Defending the Constitution

Senator Feingold's Office issued a statement in which the Senator said, "Today's markup of the constitutional amendment concerning marriage, in a small room off the Senate floor with only a handful of people other than Senators and their staffs present, was an affront to the Constitution. I objected to its consideration in such an inappropriate setting and refused to help make a quorum. I am deeply disappointed that the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee [Specter] went forward with the markup over my objection."

http://pageoneq.com/news/2006/Marriage_Amendment_Hearing_moved_behind_closed_0518.html

Who elects these people? The American people. This country does not seem to be a friendly place for immigrants, gays or women any longer.

I am going to post this, for those who won't have time to go look at the previous thread. I was hoping someone would write something on this topic, so thank you, Casey!

I will definitely go to this event - camera is charging.

Sen. Feingold to Receive Backbone Award During Seatle Visit
Celebrate the leadership and courage of one of our finest Senators.

On March 13, 2006, Senator Russ Feingold introduced a resolution to censure George W. Bush for illegally wiretapping U.S. citizens.  Despite pleas from citizens around the country, only three other Senators have had the courage to co-sponsor his bill: Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-CA] - (co-sponsored on 3/16/2006), Sen. Tom Harkin [D-IA] (co-sponsored on 3/15/2006), and Sen. John F. Kerry [D-MA] - (co-sponsored on 5/11/2006).

Unlike many Senators, Russ Feingold does not shy away from politically lonely decisions.  It was his solo vote against the now controversial PATRIOT Act on October 11, 2001 that grabbed the attention of many citizens concerned that the attacks on 9-11-2001 would be used to undermine the liberties guaranteed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Those concerns and his vote of protest were well warranted, as many American principles once taken for granted are now either threatened, or considered out-dated by the current Administration.   (Principles such as: habeas corpus, attorney-client privilege, right to a speedy trial, no indefinite detention, individual privacy, need for warrant before tapping phones, not to mention adherence to international prohibitions on torture, and preventive war.)

Feingold is leading on ending the occupation on Iraq as well.  In June 2005, Senator Feingold became the first senator to offer a resolution calling on the President to offer a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, suggesting the end of 2006 as a target date.  On April 27 of this year, the Senator offered an amendment to the emergency supplemental appropriations bill calling for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq by December 31, 2006.

For these reasons, the Backbone Campaign is pleased for the opportunity to recognize Senator Feingold for his boldness and political courage with our Backbone Award.  Please join us at this event. 

"I'd like to let you in on a little secret -- there is no such thing as history. History is the name given to events in order to mark them for our forgetfulness. Nothing is really past us, in the same way that nothing is really with us -- it all changes between blinks of the eye, no two moments the same. Those ignorant of history are not doomed to repeat it -- that would be a staggering achievement. They are simply doomed to ignorance of everything else."

-- T. Jefferson Parker

lest we should ever think otterwise,
Otter

Center for American Progress - go to their site - everything has supporting links.

CIVIL RIGHTS
Writing Discrimination Into the Constitution

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, and likely prohibit civil unions and other forms of domestic partnerships. S.J. Res 1 -- the so-called "Marriage Protection Amendment" -- passed the committee on a 10-8 party-line vote after Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), who said he was "totally opposed" to the bill, voted for it. The vote took place in a room just off the Senate floor that was closed to the general public. Instead of acting on the issues that most Americans indicate they are concerned about -- Iraq, gas prices, and stem cells among them -- the Senate is moving ahead with a divisive bill that growing numbers of Americans oppose. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the committee's ranking member, said the measure is "part of an election-year political agenda" to satisfy the right wing. "The Constitution's too important to be used for such base partisan politics." The Constitution has been amended to eliminate slavery, to give women the right to vote, and to secure for every person the equal protection of the laws. It has never been amended to mandate discrimination.

GOING INTO THE CLOSET: Yesterday's proceedings were removed from the public committee hearing room, where most Judiciary Committee actions take place, to a room that is "not open to the public and does not even have enough chairs for every senator on the committee to sit." Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) expressed his dismay at Specter's decision to pass such a consequential piece of legislation behind closed doors and indicated his desire not to assist the committee in reaching a quorum. "I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I," shouted Specter in response. "If you want to leave, good riddance." Feingold rose from his seat to leave and said to Specter, "I've enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman. See ya." Feingold said in a statement afterwards, "Today's markup of the constitutional amendment concerning marriage, in a small room off the Senate floor with only a handful of people other than Senators and their staffs present, was an affront to the Constitution. ... I am deeply disappointed that the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee went forward with the markup over my objection."Now that the Judiciary Committee has passed the amendment, it will go before the full Senate "on June 5 for what is expected to be a heated debate." The bill is unlikely to succeed because it must first be passed by two-thirds of the Senate, then two-thirds of the House, and finally, three-fourths of the 50 states. Last time the Senate considered the amendment, it failed to win even a simple majority.

BASE POLITICS: In his 2004 campaign, President Bush used gay marriage as a political wedge issue to divide the nation and rally conservative supporters, a tactic that deeply offended Vice President Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary. "I struggled with my decision to stay on the 2004 campaign," Cheney recently told ABC. When Bush proclaimed his support for an amendment banning gay marriage in the 2004 State of the Union, she refused to go. "I didn't want to be there. No one banned me from being there. But I didn't want to stand up and cheer," she said. Shortly after being re-elected, Bush declared "a duty to serve all Americans" and vowed to try again to become a uniter, not a divider -- a theme he campaigned on in 2000. Bush even pledged to drop the issue of gay marriage. In Jan. 2005, he told the Washington Post there was no reason to press for the amendment "because so many senators are convinced that the Defense of Marriage Act -- which says states that outlaw same-sex unions do not have to recognize such marriages conducted outside their borders -- is sufficient. 'Senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen. I'd take their admonition seriously,' [he said]." But with just under six months until the 2006 mid-term elections -- and with his approval ratings submerging into the low 30s and disaffected conservatives indicating their disapproval -- Bush and senior political adviser Karl Rove are once again "coordinating with Congress on social issues such as a ban on gay marriage." In the face of declining support for their efforts, Bush and Rove appear determined to divide the nation again for political gain, disregarding the advice of First Lady Laura Bush, who recently said, "I don't think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously."

TAKING AN UNPRINCIPLED STAND: The proposed amendment declares that marriage "shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman" and bars the federal and state governments from allowing any other form of marriage. While religious denominations must be free to decide what constitutes religious marriage under the tenets of their faith, the states should be free to decide whether to recognize civil marriage for their gay and lesbian citizens. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has said of the constitutional amendment, "It usurps from the states a fundamental authority they have always possessed and imposes a federal remedy for a problem that most states do not believe confronts them." Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) added, "I believe very strongly in federalism and that is the federal government should not be stepping in and dictating social policy to the states." Other conservatives mouth their support for states' rights and federalism, but they fail to take a principled stand when it comes to the gay marriage amendment.

Reports on May 18th Rally at White House and March to Rumsfeld's House
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/10827
By William Hughes

Sites With Video Posted:
Politics TV / Windows Media / Quicktime
William Hughes
Photos:
Photos of Rally and Petition Delivery
Photos of Petition Delivery
Photos of Rally
Audio:
Audio of Rally
Reports:
The People's Voice
Associated Press on Rally
Associated Press on Rumsfeld's House
Sites Where We Expect Extensive Video Coverage to Be Posted:
Truthout
Traprock Peace

By Charles Jenks

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/10827

WHAT I'VE ALWAYS FEARED WOULD HAPPEN. THE RISE OF THE VIGILANTE IN THE HEAT OF ANTI-IMMIGRATION FERVOR.

Police: One Killed In Border Shooting

POSTED: 4:13 pm PDT May 18, 2006
UPDATED: 8:59 am PDT May 19, 2006

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Four people were awaiting deportation Friday after the man who picked them up after they illegally crossed into the United States was fatally shot by federal agents as he drove toward the Mexican border, police said.

Images

The shooting occurred on Interstate 5 in San Ysidro, just north of the border, shortly before 3:30 p.m. Thursday, police said. It prompted the closure of the border crossing, the world's busiest, which was reopened shortly after midnight today.

A 22-year-old man whose identity was withheld pending family notification was declared dead at the scene after he was shot by federal agents as he drove a black sports utility vehicle carrying five passengers southbound on the San Diego (5) Freeway, police said.

After the driver was shot, the vehicle came to rest 75 feet north of the border and five passengers were detained, he said. None was hurt.

Four undocumented men riding in the car will be processed by Border Patrol and deported to Mexico, police said.

According to police, the fifth passenger was apparently the deceased man's partner in a smuggling operation. He was booked on suspicion of smuggling.

Police said the incident began when a citizen spotted several people entering the SUV near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. An agent from the Border Patrol's smuggling unit, traveling in an unmarked vehicle, spotted the SUV on the westbound 905 Freeway. The SUV headed south on the San Diego Freeway and as the driver neared the border, the agent alerted authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry and agents stopped all southbound traffic, police said.

When the SUV came to a stop in the far right lane, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent approached the vehicle and knocked on a window. The agent tried to open a door, but it was locked, so the agent used a baton to break one of the windows, prompting the driver to accelerate, police said.

"At one point the suspect tried to drive off and he veered hard to the left to get back inside traffic," Rooney told reporters. "At that point two agents fired upon the vehicle."

When they were interviewed, the four undocumented men told authorities that they paid someone to pick them up near the Otay Mesa crossing and transport them to another location, police said.

All traffic lanes at San Ysidro Port of Entry were closed Following the shooting, causing heavy congestion for miles to the north on Interstates 5 and 805, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The San Ysidro Port of Entry was reopened just after midnight, according to San Diego police."

WHY KILL PEOPLE TODAY WHO YOU'VE LET THROUGH YESTERDAY BY THE THOUSANDS?

THE COUNTRY HAS LOST IT.

Speaking of lost it...

In an interview with MSNBC's Hardball, U.S. President George W. Bush has blamed the war for his low approval ratings, and laughed off suggestions that people disapprove of his job performance.

A transcript of one exchange follows:

#
MSNBC: Let me ask you about your leadership. In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned the presidency. [BUSH laughs] You’re laughing...

BUSH: I’m not laughing.

MSNBC: Why do you think that is?

BUSH: Because we’re at war. And war unsettles people. Listen, we’ve got a great economy. We’ve added 5.2 million jobs in the last two-and-a-half years, but people are unsettled. They don’t look at the economy and say, 'life is good.' They know we’re at war. And I’m not surprised that people are unsettled because of war. The enemy’s got a powerful tool — that is to get on your TV screen by killing innocent people. And my job is to continue to remind the people it’s worth it. We’re not going to retreat hastily. We’re not going to pull out of there before the job’s done and we’ve got a plan for victory.

MSNBC: They’re not just unsettled, sir. They disapprove of the job you’re doing.

BUSH: That’s unsettled.

MSNBC That’s how you see it?

BUSH: Yeah, I do. I see it as the war has… the war is… the war is difficult. And I understand that. I understand why people wonder whether we can win the war or not. But there’s a big difference between some of us who believe we’re doing the right thing and moving forward and a group of people who want to pull out before the jobs is done.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Bush_Life_good_unsettled_people_disapprove_0519.html

Iran Contemplates Badges for non-Muslims:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060519/wl_canada_afp/iranrightsreligion
=======================================
Is it just me, or does this seem eerily familiar?

I voted the other day. Voted again, in a precinct with over 500 registered voters, and I was number 87 at four in the afternoon. Voted, and came away discouraged because hundreds of my neighbors did not. They were busy, or it was raining, or they didn't know or like anyone on the ballot. It's enough to make me weep in frustration and outrage, and to imagine with bitterness what silence and apathy is going to do to all of us.

You can't move a certain segment of people. If they never registered and never voted, they probably won't even now, and when they are agog at their freedoms being taken away, they will be shocked, but it won't ever occur to them that they should have voted when they had the chance. And, if they are registered, and they only vote in the 'big' elections, they still feel like they did their duty.

I'm past, over and done with blaming the media, and the punditocracy, and the talking heads, and the pollsters, and yes, even the politicians themselves over how bad things are. Whomever they have sought to reach or stir up has been reached or thoroughly stirred. Rabid right or angry left, it's all the same, all the time, every day.

Everyone is dissatisfied somewhere along the line. I feel bad for the rabid right sometimes, because I think they might be realizing their ideals aren't working out quite so well with the people they put their faith in. Something isn't clicking and ticking along the way they planned with their big majority in place, and they don't seem to be able to figure out why. If they voted 'R' with their religion on their sleeve, and they now feel like their religion was used, thats a hard pill to swallow. If they went 'R' to increase their wealth, well, how come they are paying more while making less, but all those big biz 'R's' that promised them they were going to get wealthy too hasn't worked out? Golly, that has to hurt. And, if they were part of the safety, war-winning, WMD believers, geez, that didn't pan out either.

It's a dilemma for them, you know. They don't like who they have in charge, and they don't see too much out there that's part of their party that's going to give them what they crave, but the option of voting 'D' is one they will resist, if they possibly can. Or, they can just not vote at all. I do not welcome this, a bunch of Rebublicans staying home on election day is not an endorsement of Democratic ideals.

That kind of action continues to foster the 'we win, you losers' attitude that is poisonous to all of us. I've waited, sadly, for Democrats to come forward and say to Republican voters who are disillusioned that the Democrats are not out to beat them for the sake of beating them, but you don't hear that. Everytime someone of some note comes forward and says they were wrong to follow the party line and the rubber stamp Republicans, I hear, 'too late sucker, it's all your fault, he's your president, you did this to us.' How does that sound to the person who feels ill used by their party, but doesn't want to be raked over the coals. I know it's hard, but isn't their remorse enough?

What can the Democrats do, or the Independents, for that matter, that speaks to recovering 'R's' that makes them want to be a part of something that they can claim to be proud of? I'm not a fan of 'we can do better.' Sorry, to all of you who go for that line, but it leaves me cold. 'Had enough?' is even worse. Really, what is needed is something that speaks to people of being something, building something, caring outwardly for the people, the planet.

I've heard something at leat twice in recent weeks, and it makes sense to me. People, real people who want to belong somewhere, with pride and dignity have said, 'don't talk politics to me.'I believe there are millions of fools who do their thinking via talking points, and catchy phrases, and regretfully, they may be unreachable. I'm thinking of the people who are fed up with politics dumbed down to them to the point that they tune out as soon as the talking starts because they know that they have heard it all before.

I carry this idea with me, that if someone within the Democratic party came forward and said, "I have a couple of hard truths to put out here, and I'm not going to pretty it up, or try to make myself look good while I'm saying it, but we have a things to clean up and it's going to cost us time and energy and money. What is done cannot be undone, but it can be stopped or changed, and there is not one person, or one party that is going to get it done alone. Some of us have let fear be our guide, and some of us have worried more about keeping our positions, and some of us have put donors and dollars above the common good. It has cost us more than I am willing to continue paying. If my being honest is going to cost me votes, so be it. Whatever name you give it, deception, lie, untruth, half truth, it's all political posturing, and if we don't seek to stop it now, then no vote will ever really matter."

Don't talk politics to me. I know everyone in Washington is scrambling to get a foot on the others guys throat as an election issue. How's it playing with the voters? It's not. Senators are running for re-election while running for President but not declaring it. Stop running for President, people, we know it and we are not amused. Our issues are not simple ones, and when you focus on YOUR big picture, you obliterate us. We know you are ALL trying to play to the money with your votes and your public pronouncements, but there are many of us out here who are barely hanging on, and we want representation.

Imagine a country where possibly 90% of eligible voters actually voted. We hear all about GOTV efforts, but how successful has it really been? Those of us who do vote, every election, every primary, we are stuck dragging the dead stinking whales that refuse to speak up and be heard. Apathy is the incumbents best friend. So, my dream speech up there is never going to be spoken by an elected official. I'm a realist, even if I do entertain a dream now and then.

So, it is on the people who are willing to wade through the crap, to listen to the foolishness that passes for governance, and the polished posturing and pointing to find out if anyone out there is the real deal. While I will go along with the presumption that the Democrats are more likely to provide oversight, and will try to stop the runaway disaster of this awful administration (regime, really) I'm not willing to believe that every Democrat today cares any more than the Republican incumbent they are trying to unseat. There is party above country on both sides. I don't pity the candidate who has to run knowing that he/she is facing voters who think that of them and nothing more.

November will be here very quickly. There is going to be enough mud flung to fill the Grand Canyon, accusations aplenty, and outright lies about people on ballots from small towns to the biggest cities. Corruption, ethics, morals, values, truth, justice and the American way. Some will tune in, many will tune out. There are great preachers out there preaching to their choirs, and if by some miracle some 'non-base' type out there wades through it all and finds themself voting come election day I'll be overjoyed, even if I don't agree with who they vote for. But, I'm not holding my breath.

I'd suggest that people turn off their televisions, leave the newspaper on the floor, and go out and walk among your neighbors. The media is NOT going to carry a positive message, not when dirt sells so well. If you know the message and the messenger for your town, your state, it's going to be up to you to deliver that information.

Something has got to be done come November. I don't blog much, if at all anymore, because I'm smart enough to know I'm gulity of preaching to a choir myself. The WEB is a tool, and it's a good one. I'm not using it to the exclusion of everything else, I just can't see it that way anymore. Look someone in the eye, like I did on election day. I found three people on my street who said it was 'no use' voting, and I shamelessly bullied them into changing their minds. I was not nice, because I don't think 'nice' is going to get it done. It took no effort at all for me to put it like this, 'You see my kids out there in my car? Well, I'm voting for them, their sake, their future, and I really take offense to your thinking there is 'no use' in them having all the rights and freedoms you are so willing to piss away.' (I said I'm not very nice.)

I know one thing, and even if everyone disagrees with me, I still reserve the right to speak my mind. The biggest danger we face as a country does not come from without, but from our own government, and the enablers who have allowed us to come to this point. We should never, Never, NEVER be discussing spying on our neighbors as though it's a good or necessary thing. If this continues to pass as national security, good government, legality or leadership, then by all means go vote the next time you get a chance, because when it's the LAST time you get to vote, you'll miss it. And, for those who are willing to let civil liberties go, who are willing to see the Constitution relegated to the trash, trampled and tossed away, when that vote you never used isn't around anymore, when it's all over and done with, then will you finally be safe? Whatever you give up today, you are giving it up for future generations, and suspicion breeds suspicion. A little warrantless wiretapping today could become being disappeared tomorrow. That could never happen here, is that what you said? Famous last words, if I ever heard any.

I have not written a rant like this in nearly a year, and who knows, I may not do it again any time soon, and if anyone is shocked to hear from me again, don't be. I'm still the same me I always was.

I'm TUTTERFLY and I approve this message!!!!

I voted the other day. Voted again, in a precinct with over 500 registered voters, and I was number 87 at four in the afternoon. Voted, and came away discouraged because hundreds of my neighbors did not. They were busy, or it was raining, or they didn't know or like anyone on the ballot. It's enough to make me weep in frustration and outrage, and to imagine with bitterness what silence and apathy is going to do to all of us.

You can't move a certain segment of people. If they never registered and never voted, they probably won't even now, and when they are agog at their freedoms being taken away, they will be shocked, but it won't ever occur to them that they should have voted when they had the chance. And, if they are registered, and they only vote in the 'big' elections, they still feel like they did their duty.

I'm past, over and done with blaming the media, and the punditocracy, and the talking heads, and the pollsters, and yes, even the politicians themselves over how bad things are. Whomever they have sought to reach or stir up has been reached or thoroughly stirred. Rabid right or angry left, it's all the same, all the time, every day.

Everyone is dissatisfied somewhere along the line. I feel bad for the rabid right sometimes, because I think they might be realizing their ideals aren't working out quite so well with the people they put their faith in. Something isn't clicking and ticking along the way they planned with their big majority in place, and they don't seem to be able to figure out why. If they voted 'R' with their religion on their sleeve, and they now feel like their religion was used, thats a hard pill to swallow. If they went 'R' to increase their wealth, well, how come they are paying more while making less, but all those big biz 'R's' that promised them they were going to get wealthy too hasn't worked out? Golly, that has to hurt. And, if they were part of the safety, war-winning, WMD believers, geez, that didn't pan out either.

It's a dilemma for them, you know. They don't like who they have in charge, and they don't see too much out there that's part of their party that's going to give them what they crave, but the option of voting 'D' is one they will resist, if they possibly can. Or, they can just not vote at all. I do not welcome this, a bunch of Rebublicans staying home on election day is not an endorsement of Democratic ideals.

That kind of action continues to foster the 'we win, you losers' attitude that is poisonous to all of us. I've waited, sadly, for Democrats to come forward and say to Republican voters who are disillusioned that the Democrats are not out to beat them for the sake of beating them, but you don't hear that. Everytime someone of some note comes forward and says they were wrong to follow the party line and the rubber stamp Republicans, I hear, 'too late sucker, it's all your fault, he's your president, you did this to us.' How does that sound to the person who feels ill used by their party, but doesn't want to be raked over the coals. I know it's hard, but isn't their remorse enough?

What can the Democrats do, or the Independents, for that matter, that speaks to recovering 'R's' that makes them want to be a part of something that they can claim to be proud of? I'm not a fan of 'we can do better.' Sorry, to all of you who go for that line, but it leaves me cold. 'Had enough?' is even worse. Really, what is needed is something that speaks to people of being something, building something, caring outwardly for the people, the planet.

I've heard something at least twice in recent weeks, and it makes sense to me. People, real people who want to belong somewhere, with pride and dignity have said, 'don't talk politics to me.'I believe there are millions of fools who do their thinking via talking points, and catchy phrases, and regretfully, they may be unreachable. I'm thinking of the people who are fed up with politics dumbed down to them to the point that they tune out as soon as the talking starts because they know that they have heard it all before.

I carry this idea with me, that if someone within the Democratic party came forward and said, "I have a couple of hard truths to put out here, and I'm not going to pretty it up, or try to make myself look good while I'm saying it, but we have a things to clean up and it's going to cost us time and energy and money. What is done cannot be undone, but it can be stopped or changed, and there is not one person, or one party that is going to get it done alone. Some of us have let fear be our guide, and some of us have worried more about keeping our positions, and some of us have put donors and dollars above the common good. It has cost us more than I am willing to continue paying. If my being honest is going to cost me votes, so be it. Whatever name you give it, deception, lie, untruth, half truth, it's all political posturing, and if we don't seek to stop it now, then no vote will ever really matter."

Don't talk politics to me. I know everyone in Washington is scrambling to get a foot on the others guys throat as an election issue. How's it playing with the voters? It's not. Senators are running for re-election while running for President but not declaring it. Stop running for President, people, we know it and we are not amused. Our issues are not simple ones, and when you focus on YOUR big picture, you obliterate us. We know you are ALL trying to play to the money with your votes and your public pronouncements, but there are many of us out here who are barely hanging on, and we want representation.

Imagine a country where possibly 90% of eligible voters actually voted. We hear all about GOTV efforts, but how successful has it really been? Those of us who do vote, every election, every primary, we are stuck dragging the dead stinking whales that refuse to speak up and be heard. Apathy is the incumbents best friend. So, my dream speech up there is never going to be spoken by an elected official. I'm a realist, even if I do entertain a dream now and then.

So, it is on the people who are willing to wade through the crap, to listen to the foolishness that passes for governance, and the polished posturing and pointing to find out if anyone out there is the real deal. While I will go along with the presumption that the Democrats are more likely to provide oversight, and will try to stop the runaway disaster of this awful administration (regime, really) I'm not willing to believe that every Democrat today cares any more than the Republican incumbent they are trying to unseat. There is party above country on both sides. I don't pity the candidate who has to run knowing that he/she is facing voters who think that of them and nothing more.

November will be here very quickly. There is going to be enough mud flung to fill the Grand Canyon, accusations aplenty, and outright lies about people on ballots from small towns to the biggest cities. Corruption, ethics, morals, values, truth, justice and the American way. Some will tune in, many will tune out. There are great preachers out there preaching to their choirs, and if by some miracle some 'non-base' type out there wades through it all and finds themself voting come election day I'll be overjoyed, even if I don't agree with who they vote for. But, I'm not holding my breath.

I'd suggest that people turn off their televisions, leave the newspaper on the floor, and go out and walk among your neighbors. The media is NOT going to carry a positive message, not when dirt sells so well. If you know the message and the messenger for your town, your state, it's going to be up to you to deliver that information.

Something has got to be done come November. I don't blog much, if at all anymore, because I'm smart enough to know I'm gulity of preaching to a choir myself. The WEB is a tool, and it's a good one. I'm not using it to the exclusion of everything else, I just can't see it that way anymore. Look someone in the eye, like I did on election day. I found three people on my street who said it was 'no use' voting, and I shamelessly bullied them into changing their minds. I was not nice, because I don't think 'nice' is going to get it done. It took no effort at all for me to put it like this, 'You see my kids out there in my car? Well, I'm voting for them, their sake, their future, and I really take offense to your thinking there is 'no use' in them having all the rights and freedoms you are so willing to piss away.' (I said I'm not very nice.)

I know one thing, and even if everyone disagrees with me, I still reserve the right to speak my mind. The biggest danger we face as a country does not come from without, but from our own government, and the enablers who have allowed us to come to this point. We should never, Never, NEVER be discussing spying on our neighbors as though it's a good or necessary thing. If this continues to pass as national security, good government, legality or leadership, then by all means go vote the next time you get a chance, because when it's the LAST time you get to vote, you'll miss it. And, for those who are willing to let civil liberties go, who are willing to see the Constitution relegated to the trash, trampled and tossed away, when that vote you never used isn't around anymore, when it's all over and done with, then will you finally be safe? Whatever you give up today, you are giving it up for future generations, and suspicion breeds suspicion. A little warrantless wiretapping today could become being disappeared tomorrow. That could never happen here, is that what you said? Famous last words, if I ever heard any.

I have not written a rant like this in nearly a year, and who knows, I may not do it again any time soon, and if anyone is shocked to hear from me again, don't be. I'm still the same me I always was.

I'm TUTTERFLY and I approve this message!!!!

Jeebus, she double posts it. Guess that proves, I've lost it.

Now so horrified by the Iraq war, Guantanamo & the Mexico DMZ wall as to hardly be able to eat. It all just keeps piling up. Guards fighting with detainees who have been held almost 5 years without charges. Border patrol shooting a man. UN issuing report on our torture patterns while it looks like we'll elevate to a higher post the 4-star general who initiated a surveillance program less effective than the one Cilnton had (but more invasive of civil liberties).

tutterfly
Good rant - I read it twice.

Tutterfly, many years ago my mother had a family rule... Don't vote.. Can't bitch.

You have admirably laid out the reasons....

Gee, it was nice to hear from you, we may be the choir, but your voice has always made it fuller.

Tut, tut.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060519/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_clash_4
Guantanamo Prison Guards, Inmates Clash
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Prisoners wielding improvised weapons clashed with guards trying to stop a detainee from committing suicide at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the military said Friday. The fight occurred Thursday in a medium-security section of the camp as guards were responding to the fourth attempted suicide that day at the detention center on the U.S. Navy base, Cmdr. Robert Durand said.
~~~~~
The attempted suicides and clash occurred on the same day the military transferred 15 Saudi detainees to their country, leaving about 460 prisoners at Guantanamo. It was unclear if the disturbances were related to the transfers.

{{{More on link.}}}

Tutterfly!

Good to hear from you! Your rant was absolutely correct....! You may not have written a rant like that in nearly a year, but you've not lost your touch, you still express yourself with lucid clarity, something we all appreciate.

Thank you....

It's a frightening day when the libertarian Cato Institute and the liberal ACLU agree that the US is one step closer to a police state. The issue: will the Wall and Guard troops on the border violate the Posse Comitatus Act?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051906A.shtml

In November, I went to Mexico. I walked in.
It was much harder getting out. I stood in a long queue, showed three IDs including a passport & it was completely intimidating. I was a US-born citize trying to re-enter my own country.

Posted by: Ladytechie at May 19, 2006 03:28 PM

Guess that proves all of us have voted! ;-)

The Bush administration would like to ABOLISH the Posse Comitatus Act. Then military police could have authority within the US, as assigned.
We would then officially live in a police state & military dictatorship.

xxx Tutterfly!

Time for more Friday levity & a song, compliments of a DU poster...

I Am a Fool (apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)
(sung to the tune of "I Am a Rock")

A cold spring day,
And my rating's in the crapper...

I will stay the course!
I don't feel bad for Saddam, he tried to kill my dad,
It's all their fault for making me feel bad.
I am a fool,
I am the president!

I had capital,
A mandate of the people;
At least that's what Karl told me.
I have no need of allies, allies give me gas,
All the little folk are just pains in the ass.
I am a putz,
I am the president!

I talk of peace,
While I'm gearing up for war.
Why don't the rabble care for me?
I won't disturb Dick Cheney, he'll shoot me in the face
When the pictures show how good he looks in lace
I'll bomb Iraq,
Then I'll bomb Ireland!

I love my nukes!
Oh, they give me such a woody!
I am shielded from the people.
Hiding from the crowds, no talk is allowed,
I'll f**k with you but no one f**ks with me.
I've bombed Iraq,
I'll bomb Rhode Island!

And I'm feeling no pain,
And Jack Daniels never lies...

(This is from the third act of Booshapalooza!, a yet unpublished {and, to be honest, never thought-of, until now} musical outlining the many accomplishments of Dubya Boosh. It's a short musical.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1237689

Posted by: NonnyO at May 19, 2006 04:24 PM

Here, here...

I Love Lucid!

Posted by: monkey at May 19, 2006 04:51 PM

;-) Hear! Hear!

We all do! And we love tutterfly, too! :-)

Posted by: madame defarge at May 19, 2006 04:41 PM

:-) Oh, wow... I'll never think of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkle songs quite the same way again....

WOW -- how happy it makes me, within reason of course, because it's all f***ed up anyway, to come here and experience the sheer burn through of a Tutterfly rant.

You do us good, woman.

And thanks for getting those three votes out there.

Whatever it takes, whatever it takes.

Posted by: DiAnne at May 19, 2006 09:08 AM
(from previous thread)

Yes, and his royal "we" and "I" get mixed up sometimes. If you read that piece about DumDum being certifiable, him seeing himself as the nation and the entirety of the government of this nation would be typical of the symptoms of his self-delusions and the illusions he hides behind.... He doesn't see himself as separate from the government, so when he says 'we' he really means 'I' since his Freudian slips betray his desire to be the dictator in fact and for life... pathetic, isn't it?

The only thing I don't get is why one third of the sheeple of this nation still buy into his self-delusion.... It's painful to watch sound bytes of people lying to themselves so unconvincingly, and worse..., Lamestream Media caters to them!

The only thing that "comforts" me is that at least it's now only one third, and not the half it once was (if the polls aren't skewed). Still, that group between 30 & 50% is swayed by poll results, by the latest hooey on the most trivial of issues that have nothing to do with the major problems of losing our rights ("legally" as it were, with legislation passed in our Congress, no less, and we need to vote those congressional offenders out of office), illegal, unjust, unethical, immoral, and dishonorable war and torture (against all our laws, international treaties), etc. (We all have that long list memorized by now.)

"The base" can think of nothing better to do than go off on tangents about abortion and gay marriage - neither of which needed any laws in the first place, either for or against. Statistically, there aren't enough people who need abortions or who want to participate in a gay marriage that it would have much of an impact on the majority of the population of this nation. There must be a way to let immigrants enter this country legally and obtain citizenship if that's what they want to do. It's a side issue, and civilized legislation could easily be written - likely the only thing holding up civilized, common-sense immigration legislation is the corporations who want to exploit immigrant workers. (Fences are a waste of money and time and will endanger wildlife as well as human beings - utterly stupid! But I wonder who will build those fences? Will Halliburton build the fences and 'rescue and liberate' more of our tax dollars? Again? Doesn't Halliburton have enough of our tax dollars already?)

I suspect it's "the base" who watches all the reality TV and mistakes fake reality with reality too difficult to face, like illegal war, illegal detention and illegal torture of prisoners (all of which are war crimes by Nuremberg and UN and Geneva Convention standards), unconstitutional laws that have taken away our civil rights and made toilet paper of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, laws (our own and international) broken by the "leaders" of this country who need to rot in jail for the rest of their lives for breaking those laws.... (I yearn for news of impeachment and news of their arrest and trial at The Hague for war crimes.)

Anyway, I still don't understand why 'the base' sheeple bought into his self-delusion and voted for the paranoid little Cretin in the first place.... I know some argue the 'common man' crap, but that's no reason to vote for someone with an IQ lower than a rock who can't even speak a coherent sentence and mispronounces most words, and a fool who thinks our Constitution is "just a goddamn piece of paper!" (and likely he still has never read it, or if he has, doesn't understand any of it)... and look what voting for a man with self-delusions of grandeur and the mentality of a common criminal got us...! Gee, thanks "base voters" and voting machine fixers! (...the adamant pacifist writes, hands just itching to bitch-slap them upside the head for their rank stupidity...!)

{{{Sorry for the rant. Tutterfly started a trend in my thinking! ;-)}}}

We would then officially live in a police state & military dictatorship.
Posted by: DiAnne at May 19, 2006 04:27 PM

Golly, I can tell you would feel so secure and comfortable if/when that happens...! NOT!!!

Seriously, do our legislators not realize their votes that favor The Cretin and his corporate cronies and against the citizens of this nation and counter to the Constitution have been boxing us into a solid de facto dictatorship already, and it won't be much longer before The Cretin seizes dictatorial control in fact (with the military to enforce his dictates) and he cancels elections?!?!? Don't the legislators or the supreme court realize that the signing statements counteract their constitutional authority??? Do they really not GET it?!?

The few sound bytes I've seen recently in Lamestream Snooze indicate most of our legislators (the ones "allowed" to be heard, that is) all live inside The Cretin's delusions.... or else I want to know what dreamy drugs they're washing down with kool-aid to keep them delusional....

Who elects these people? The American people. This country does not seem to be a friendly place for immigrants, gays or women any longer.

Posted by: DiAnne at May 19, 2006 09:41 AM

It's not.

Except for immigrants, gays, and women who suck up to the destruction of their own kind.

The Cuban and Korean communities.
The Log Cabin Republicans.
Concerned Women for America.
Shame on ALL OF THEM.

I'm TUTTERFLY and I approve this message!!!!

Posted by: tutterfly at May 19, 2006 02:17 PM

Welcome back tut!

And I wholeheartedly agree with you. What's really killing us is NOT our politicians or our government, but our own apathy that caused those very politicians and government to come into existence.

Iran Contemplates Badges for non-Muslims:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060519/wl_canada_afp/iranrightsreligion
=======================================
Is it just me, or does this seem eerily familiar?

Posted by: Victoria Ellen at May 19, 2006 02:10 PM

A Montreal-based radio station named an independent source as saying that no such moves are actually being considered in Iran at this time.

Nevertheless, the Armageddon is near, with a Muslim lunatic (Iran's president) and a Christian lunatic (W) about to slug it out.

Posted by: NonnyO at May 19, 2006 05:37 PM

I don't get the whole "W = common man" stuff either. The Bush family is as far from the common man as anybody gets. Poppy Bush couldn't even shop at a supermarket. Barbara Bush can't waste her beautiful mind on the sufferings of the Katrina victims. As their product, W can only do so much.

And honestly, if the Republicans are so concerned about the homosexual menace, they should start purging their own ranks first. Log Cabiners can all be stoned to death in accordance with the Christo-Republican moral laws, and I won't care a bit.

ENGLISH ONLY in the Handmaid's Tale police state - covenant marriage, & pre-pregnant women, no single teachers, no mortgages or licenses to single parents. Watch for it.

ENGLISH ONLY in the Handmaid's Tale police state

Posted by: nmp at May 19, 2006 06:03 PM

Apply it to the Unification Church first.

Those bastards still spoke Korean, the last time I checked.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060519/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_clash_8

6 Gitmo Inmates Hurt in Fight With Guards
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Prisoners wielding improvised weapons attacked military guards trying to save a detainee pretending to commit suicide at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the base commander said Friday. Six prisoners were injured. U.S. guards were lured Thursday evening into a dorm-like room at a minimum-security wing of the detention center by a detainee pretending to prepare to hang himself, said Navy Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr.

{{{Very Interesting... Notice that now the wording is that the inmates "lured" the guards and the man attempting suicide was "pretending".... More of the xenophobic neoCon rhetoric that 'demonizes the enemy' - never mind the fact that the people there were not "enemies" in the first place until The Cretin's illegal invasion of Iraq made them enemies, and that the detention of the people at Gitmo is illegal on the part of the Bush administration...!!! Is it just me, or are their discriminatory adjectives as transparently coercive and inflammatory as I read them??? Seriously, I wasn't even looking for the perjorative adjectives... they were just there, sticking out like sore thumbs...! Hmmm.... Dare I force myself to watch Lamestream Media evening snooze to see how they spin this story??? I know the administration "supporters" will see this as a feather in their cap and demonize the inmates (whether innocent or guilty by normal standards, not their standards), but it will be interesting to see whether or not Lamestream Media demonizes the detainees, too....}}}

NonnyO
Certain Germans probably didn't have much sympathy for Jews in concentration camps either, or gays & lesbians. Some in Guantanamo (at times) have been 12 years old, or drove a cab for someone who may have been a terrorists. Held for almost five years with no charges & no trial. If we have another terrorist attack (real rather than staged), we will know why.

States forced to change their official mottos to English
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/19/155052/167
State governments were caught off-guard yesterday as the Senate voted to make English the official language of the United States. The sudden emergence of a single lingual standard is forcing many state Legislatures to abandon official state mottos -- inspiring phrases adopted decades ago which hardly anyone can remember and certainly no one can pronounce.

Alabama, for instance, is considering changing its Latin motto -- Audemus jura nostra defendere -- which means "Did you get that at Wal-Mart?" to the much simpler "Roll Tide!"

Hawaii wants to change its native-tongue motto -- Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono -- which means "Book em Dano, murder one" with "Is that a volcano in your pants or are you just glad to see me?" The official state song -- "Hawai'i pono'i" -- which used to be Hawaii's national anthem, is now the much catchier "Theme from Gilligan's Island."

South Carolina was all set to change its official Latin motto -- Dum spiro spero -- but the motion to change it was tabled after no one could remember what it meant. Ida Mae over at the state archives had written the translation down on the back of a receipt and thought she filed it under "M" but thinks now she may have thrown it out.

Montana's official motto -- Oro y plata -- is in Spanish, which very loosely translated means "F$$ck you and the horse you rode in on." After a lengthy debate, legislators decided they like that just fine.

Maryland's state motto is in Italian -- Fatti maschii, parole femine. After conducting some research into its origins, legislators were shocked to discover it meant "Can I have your sister?" Turns out years ago some prankster legislator slipped it into a budget bill one night to replace the old motto -- "We've got crabs."

Kentucky, having just changed its English motto -- United We Stand, Divided We Fall -- in 2002 to the Latin "Deo gratiam habeamus," which means "Let Us Be Grateful to God," is changing again. This time it's "Put $50 on Barbaro to Win."

Washington's motto is in Chinook -- Al-ki -- which means "By and By," which sounded too much like the name of a chain of convenience stores, so they changed it to something the House Speaker remembered from "The Outlaw Josey Wales" -- Endeavor to Persevere.

Minnesota's motto is in French -- L'étoile du Nord -- and is a holdover from territorial days. Coincidentally, back then there was a whorehouse in St. Paul by that same name. The new motto will be "When the ice caps melt, we'll be beachfront property."

California's motto is from the Greek -- Eureka -- which is what Congressman Duke Cunningham said every Friday when the plain brown envelope arrived at his office. The new motto -- "You mean Paul McCartney didn't have a pre-nup?"

Once these changes take effect things will be a lot less confusing for everyone. And states that had been wasting money teaching kids Latin can divert that money to more useful purposes -- like teaching Bible stories like that one about that tower in Babel.

TUTTERFLY!!!

Damn, you know how to do a good rant. You definitely have not lost your touch.

It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful, to hear from you. I've missed your pithy comments and the down-to-earth logic.

Please don't deprive us for so long before you come back next time!

This is the first Friday evening I've actually been alone (well, the dogs are home) in such a long time. My girls are watching a movie at a freinds house, and the hubby is working late. So, here I am, to say thankee, one and all for the warm re-entry.

If anyone else got the rant bug from me, I'd say I'm sorry, but anger loves company.

AllyMcLesbian
This is truly scary. This guy owns United Press International. He has great influence on Capitol Hill. It's like his teachings are being legislated into United States Law. You inspired me to check out his website. Man oh man..

Respected guests from home and abroad, beloved Blessed Families:

I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the work you are doing in many places around the world to establish God’s homeland and bring peace to humanity. We are gathered here today to commemorate the historic days in 2004 when ceremonies were held at venues on both Capitol Hill in the United States and the National Assembly in Korea, honoring me with a crowning as “King of Peace.” As it happens, this is also the 20th anniversary of the day I was freed from Danbury prison in the United States after achieving victory over the difficulties of incarceration there. That was the last of six times in my life when it became necessary for me to be imprisoned due to persecution and unjust accusations.

On this meaningful day, I would like to convey to you Heaven’s message concerning the value of the Holy Marriage Blessing and its significance. The title of my remarks is “The Holy Marriage Blessing Is the Path to Unite the Virtues of Heaven and Earth and Harmonize and Unify the Universe as One.”

Posted by: Ally McLesbian at May 19, 2006 05:58 PM
===========================================
Ally...

Yeah, now I've read that maybe the badge thing in Iran is not really happening.

Hmmm... let's see... who would have a stake in escalating the perception of Iran as an evil doer right now?.... hmmmm...

Ferris? Anyone?

I am scared of one thing - blowback.

http://www.npr.org for audio

The Pentagon is investigating an alleged Marine rampage that may have left as many as two-dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians dead last November in the Iraqi town of Haditha. The numbers are far higher than had been previously reported and have shaken the Marine hierarchy.

Investigators are still piecing together what happened on a November morning in Haditha, a Sunni stronghold northwest of Baghdad. But they have some troubling details: 24 civilians died in a hail of gunfire, including 11 women and children, a government official familiar with the investigation tells NPR.

The initial reports said a roadside bomb blew up one Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians. The investigation has now turned that story upside down, revealing a much more disturbing chain of events, says the official, who asked not to be identified.

It all started when four Marine Humvees entered Haditha. A roadside bomb exploded, killing a Marine and wounding two others. The Marines jumped out and set up a defensive posture. Suddenly, a taxi carrying five Iraqi men pulled up. The Marines ordered the unarmed men out of the vehicle, and the five Iraqis were killed, the official said.

Hi Tutterfly,

It's wonderful to see you again! I'm sorry about the disappointing showing.

Posted by: nmp at May 19, 2006 07:20 PM

This reminds me.

W is not considering South Korea an ally on the War on Terror, because its president, Roh Moo-Hyun, is a leftist.

The real reason South Korea is not an ally on the War on Terror is because too many Koreans came to America to help the Far Right and its terrorist tactics.

If the Unification Church, and other Korean megachurches right here in Los Angeles, are forced to go English only, their ability to secretly help the Far Right will severely be curtailed, and that will actually hurt the Republican cause.

It's wonderful to see you again! I'm sorry about the disappointing showing.

Posted by: sparrow at May 19, 2006 07:35 PM

disappointing??
showing???

what is this disappointing showing you speak of bird?

Ugly American Makeover Team - discusses the Pew polls & perceptions of US & US travellers abroad.
We love to go to Europe & we love to go to Mexico & Canada, but now we don't have much choice. We can only afford Mexico.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-spano21may21,1,6783486.column?coll=la-travel-headlines

I also read an article about Bush's War on Tourism (decline in Americans travelling to Canada, Europe etc. because of falling dollar, tougher restrictions on Canadian border etc).

If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms

Pat Robertson (from Kos site)

Posted by: tutterfly at May 19, 2006 07:20 PM

To paraphrase (almost exact quote?) Mark Twain: Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have someone to share it with....

I love to read good rants like yours, largely 'cuz I agree with so much of what you say and you write things so much better than I can! Plus which, your command of satire is excellent, and I always appreciate good satire.... :-)

Joshua Holland | One Step Closer to a Police State
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051906A.shtml
"Placing National Guard troops on the border could be a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. And that's just fine with the Bush administration," writes Joshua Holland.
Excerpt:
It's likely that the move is a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, a law established after the Civil War that prohibits the use of U.S. troops for domestic law enforcement. Passed in 1878 to prohibit federal troops from running elections in the former confederate states, it is considered a bulwark against the development of a police state.

A central issue of Bush's plan is that the troops would be under federal authority. One of the exceptions built into the Posse Comitatus Act is that troops may be deployed to support law enforcement agencies, but with the exception of insurrections and riots, nuclear attack or interdiction of drug smuggling (when working directly with law enforcement agencies), they must be under the authority of a state governor.

~~~~~

Ray McGovern, a 27-year veteran of the CIA who maintains close connections in the national security community, reports that, according to "a credible source on the Hill," the Senate "is moving to amend [or] repeal the Posse Comitatus Act, ostensibly to allow greater options for National Guard troops on the border. The move would remove National Guardsmen "from governors' authority" and place them "under the president."

{{{More on link. IMHO, the warnings, like big flashing neon letters on the side of a mountain, are clear: DumDum and RumDum are gonna use "slow" guard response to Katrina and the "potential" for a flu outbreak, among other things, to change the Posse Comitatus law.... Can we start bitch-slapping our legislators before they consider voting on any potential legislation on this??? They desperately need a wake-up call to restore their feeble brains to some semblance of sanity....}}}

The Insidious Bias of the Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051906B.shtml
John Psaropoulos of Athens News interviews Norman Solomon, who "finds disturbing trends in the US media landscape over the past four decades that conspire to deprive Americans of harder-hitting journalism when it comes to wars overseas."

US Court Refuses to Hear CIA Torture Lawsuit
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051906G.shtml
A US court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a German citizen who says he was kidnapped and beaten by the CIA.

Tutter,

I was referring to this:

"I voted the other day. Voted again, in a precinct with over 500 registered voters, and I was number 87 at four in the afternoon. Voted, and came away discouraged because hundreds of my neighbors did not. They were busy, or it was raining, or they didn't know or like anyone on the ballot. It's enough to make me weep in frustration and outrage, and to imagine with bitterness what silence and apathy is going to do to all of us."

I'm too exhausted lately to elaborate much.

The Marines now have the My Lai Massacre of the Iraq War.

I thought Bush said Iraq War was just a battle.

Posted by: DiAnne at May 19, 2006 10:10 PM

Uh-huh. And "Mission Accomplished" was how many years ago??? Wasn't the war done then??? How many people have died since he declared the "war over?"

His Pinocchio nose is so long now it must be ready to be cut down. A tree that long should make a lot of good toilet paper....

I just called my friend who is originally from Iran & her American-born husband won't let her have internet. When I call & she's not there, he does not pass on my messages.

She did not know Russ Feingold was coming to town tomorrow or that Bill Clinton will appear with Jim McDermott soon. Now she is going with me, I'm getting her all signed up. We are not even telling Mr. Amish.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060519/ts_csm/ademwomen

Wave of women candidates for Hill

WASHINGTON - It feels like the political version of speed dating: Reporters gather in a room, the candidate is whisked in for a coffee-and-pastry-fueled chat about her campaign, then whisked out to make way for the next candidate, and the next, and the next...

This was the scene last week at the Omni Shoreham Hotel here in Washington, where the political action committee EMILY's List was holding its annual luncheon and trumpeting its "endorsees" - all of them Demo- cratic women who favor abortion rights. The topics of conversation ranged from the Iraq war to immigration to Rahm Emanuel, the head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, but rarely touched on the role of gender in the campaign.
~~~~~
Voter discontent with Washington is high, and women candidates could be the natural beneficiaries of that "throw the bums out" mentality, say experts on women in politics.

"When people get disgusted with politics and they are looking for change, women embody that change," says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "There's a sense that women are more honest."

Analysts see some comparisons to the 1992 election - the so-called "year of the woman," when female representation in both houses of Congress jumped from 32 to 54 members; most of the new women were Democrats. Today, 81 out of 535 House and Senate seats, or 15 percent, are held by women (52 Democrats and 29 Republicans).

{{{More on link. Don't know about other states, but in MN at least one district where a Dem incumbent of many years is retiring, the two candidates vying for his seat are both women. The Repub is virulently anti-gay (trying to get a gay marriage ban passed in MN state legislature), anti everything progressive. The Dem candidate lost to a Repub who had imported Rovian smear tactics against her in '04. Don't know how that's all going to play out this time around.}}}

Hey DiAnne:

This is totally off-topic, but imagine a Jimi Hendrix collaboration with Bob Marley on "Concrete Jungle"!

Chuck in Houston

DiAnne:

By the way, that Mai Lai thing makes my heart sick. I mean, with all the talk about war and casualties and death and pain and mutilation, the one thing I keep thinking is putting these kids in these positions where something is bound to happen where they might do something they never would have considered otherwise. I suppose it always was and always will happen and always remains that untold story that testifies, more than anything else, to the horror of war, and the consequent obligation to ensure that war, in our name, must always be a last resort. What a tragedy.

Chuck in Houston

DiAnne:

By the way, that Mai Lai thing makes my heart sick. I mean, with all the talk about war and casualties and death and pain and mutilation, the one thing I keep thinking is putting these kids in these positions where something is bound to happen where they might do something they never would have considered otherwise. I suppose it always was and always will happen and always remains that untold story that testifies, more than anything else, to the horror of war, and the consequent obligation to ensure that war, in our name, must always be a last resort. What a tragedy.

Chuck in Houston

Stir it up!
Little darling!
Stir it up
Come on and
Stir it up
Little darling
Stir it up
Whoa...

It's been a long long time
Since I've got you on my mind
And now you are here I say
I say it's OK to say
What we can do
Just me and you....

Chuck in Houston

I know I've been off-topic but I guess that's my goofy way of Defending the Constitution of the United States of America by promoting the Righteousness of Brother Bob....

Chuck in Houston

Chuck
Hendrix is never off-topic, in my world.

If 6 Was 9

(Yeah, sing a song bro'...)
If the sun refused to shine
I don't mind, I don't mind
(Yeah)
If the mountains ah, fell in the sea
Let it be, it ain't me.
(Well, all right)

Got my own world to live through and uh, ha !
And I ain't gonna copy you.

Yeah (sing the song brother...)
Now if uh, six uh, huh, turned out to be nine
Oh I don't mind, I don't mind uh ( Well all right... )
If all the hippies cut off all their hair
Oh I don't care, oh I don't care.
Dig.

'Cause I've got my own world to live through and uh, huh
And I ain't gonna copy you.

White collar conservative flashin' down the street
Pointin' their plastic finger at me, ha !
They're hopin' soon my kind will drop and die but uh
I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high !
Oww !

Wave on, wave on...

Ah, ha, ha
Fall mountains, just don't fall on me
Go ahead on mister business man, you can't dress like me
Yeah !

Don't nobody know what I'm talkin' about
I've got my own life to live
I'm the one that's gonna die when it's time for me to die
So let me live my life the way I want to
Yeah, sing on brother, play on drummer

Right on, DiAnne, and Brother Jimi of Garfield HS too! Lord knows, we don't need, no more troubles (make love not war)...

Chuck in Houston

PS: That's another Marley song on the same album

Holy Shamoley. Tutter that was damn good. Nice to see you post.

It truly is amazing that barely 50% of eligible voters decide the fate for this country.

Stan Goff (crimson red) on Murtha (center right)

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m23392&l=i&size=1&hd=0

I actually admire both of them a whole lot.

The new My Lai is called Haditha & here is an excerpt from what Goff had to say:

On November 19th last year, a convoy fo Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines drove through the village of Haditha — a Euphrates River farming town in northwestern Anbar Province of Iraq — where they were hit with an impovised explosive device, killing Lance Corporal Miguel (T.J.) Terrazas, 20, from El Paso, Texas. Fifteen Iraqi civilians were then killed by the Marines, who later claimed that the civilians were killed by the blast of the roadside bomb.

But in January 2006, Time Magazine went to the Pentagon with video footage of the scene and 28 eyewitness reports that suggested something else happened altogether. Those reports, photographs, and video made an extremely strong case that the Marines of Kilo Company went on a vengeance rampage, kicked in the doors of civilian homes, and slaughtered 15 people, including men, women, and small childen, two of adults being elderly grandparents.

The Time story went public in March 2006. Subsequent inquires, outside the military — who insists it is still investigating — have strongly supported the eyewitness reports.

There is some kind of unwritten protocol to give troops the benefit of the doubt beyond anything that would be reasonable for anyone else. Catharine MacKinnon writes, "Manners are often taken more seriously than politics. There’s a poltics to that."

If anyone in the United States were a suspect in 15 homicides, it’s a pretty good bet they’d be in custody. It’s also a pretty good bet that these guys are not.

Murtha is telling the public that the Pentagon investigation will show that the US Marines massacred civilians in Haditha in November 2005.

That is why I am grateful to Representative John Murtha for not adhering to what is considered good manners.

Hey Oncall/DiAnne/Tutter/Sparrow:

I just had a thought: "Friends don't let friends skip voting" or something to that effect. Maybe that will be enough come November. At all events, couldn't hurt.

Chuck in Houston

DiAnne:

Yeah, I read that and heard about it some. War is an accident waiting to happen. Dead and maimed and survivors with their scars, visible and invisible.... What a terrible shame. What justifies that cost?

Chuck in Houston

Should have said: "What redeems that cost?"

Chuck in Houston

Chuck in Houston

This is dedicated to Karl Rove, Cheney, General Hayden, Michael Chertoff, and all the other "crazy baldheads"

Them crazy, them crazy -
We gonna chase those crazy
Baldheads out of town;
Chase those crazy baldheads
Out of our town.

I'n'I build a cabin;
I'n'I plant the corn;
Didn't my people before me
Slave for this country?
Now you look me with that scorn,
Then you eat up all my corn.

We gonna chase those crazy -
Chase them crazy -
Chase those crazy baldheads out of town!
---
[Scat singing]
---
Build your penitentiary, we build your schools,
Brainwash education to make us the fools.
Hate is your reward for our love,
Telling us of your God above.

We gonna chase those crazy -
Chase those crazy bunkheads -
Chase those crazy baldheads out of the town!
---
[Instrumental break]
---
We gonna chase those crazy -
Chase those crazy bunkheads -
Chase those crazy baldheads out of the town!

Here comes the conman
Coming with his con plan.
We won't take no bribe;
We've got (to) stay alive.

We gonna chase those crazy -
Chase those crazy baldheads -
Chase those crazy baldheads out of the town.

Bob Marley

For this they will try to Swift Boat him:

Murtha: Marines Killed Iraqi Civilians "In Cold Blood"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051806J.shtml
A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that US Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood," Rep. John Murtha said Wednesday.

In a building of gold, with riches untold,

Lived the families on which the country was founded.

And the merchants of style, with their red velvet smiles,

Were there, for they also were hounded.

And the soft middle class crowded in to the last,

For the building was fully surrounded.

And the noise outside was the ringing of revolution.

Sadly they stared and sank in their chairs
And searched for a comforting notion.

And the rich silver walls looked ready to fall
As they shook in doubtful devotion.

The ice cubes would clink as they freshened their drinks,

Wet their minds in bitter emotion.
And they talked about the ringing of revolution.

We were hardly aware of the hardships they beared,

For our time was taken with treasure.

Oh, life was a game, and work was a shame,
And pain was prevented by pleasure.

The world, cold and grey, was so far away
In the distance only money could measure.

But their thoughts were broken by the ringing of revolution.

The clouds filled the room in darkening doom
As the crooked smoke rings were rising.

How long will it take, how can we escape
Someone asks, but no ones advising.

And the quivering floor responds to the roar,
In a shake no longer surprising.

As closer and closer comes the ringing of revolution.

Softly they moan, please leave us alone
As back and forth they are pacing.

And they cover their ears and try not to hear
With pillows of silk theyre embracing.

And the crackling crowd is laughing out loud,
Peeking in at the target theyre chasing.

Now trembling inside the ringing of revolution.

With compromise sway we give in half way
When we saw that rebellion was growing.

Now everythings lost as they kneel by the cross
Where the blood of christ is still flowing.

To late for their sorrow theyve reached their tomorrow
And reaped the seed they were sowing.

Now harvested by the ringing of revolution.

In tattered tuxedos they faced the new heroes
And crawled about in confusion.

And they sheepishly grinned for their memoroes were dim
Of the decades of dark execution.

Hollow hands were raised; they stood there amazed
In the shattering of their illusions.

As the windows were smashed by the ringing of revolution.

Down on our knees were begging you please,
Were sorry for the way you were driven.

Theres no need to taunt just take what you want,
And we'll make amends, if we're living.

But away from the grounds the flames told the town
That only the dead are forgiven.

As they crumbled inside the ringing of revolution

Phil Ochs

No sun will shine
In my day today.
The high, yellow moon
Won't come out to play.

I say,

Darkness has covered my light,
And staged my day into night

Where is the love to be found?
Won't someone tell me cause life
Must be somewhere to be found

Instead of

Concrete Jungle
Where the living is hardest
Concrete Jungle
Man you've got to do your best

...

Still, I'll be always laughing
Laughing like a clown
Because I've got to pick myself
Up off the ground.

Chuck in Houston

DiAnne/Karen:

We'll hang tough and get there. We'll judge not lest we be judged. We'll forgive and be forgiven. We'll try to see a spark of inspiration in ourselves, and then try to see it in our neighbors. We'll hang on by finger-nails and GOTV in 2006 and then see where we go from there. That's my take anyway.

Chuck in Houston

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060519/ap_on_go_ot/fema_trailers

FEMA Says Ark. to Keep Half of Trailers
WASHINGTON - The government has no plans to move at least half of the 10,000 emergency housing trailers sitting empty in Hope, Ark., saying they may be needed for the 2006 hurricane season.

{{{Get a look at that aerial photo that shows only part of the inventory of empty trailers....}}}

Growing number of GOP seats in doubt
Vulnerability seen in unusual places

By Michael D. Shear and Dan Balz
The Washington Post
Updated: 11:52 p.m. ET May 19, 2006

VIRGINIA BEACH - When some of the country's top political handicappers drew up their charts of vulnerable House incumbents at the beginning of this year, Rep. Thelma D. Drake (R-Va.) was not among them. Now she is.

President Bush carried her district with 58 percent of the vote in 2004, but strategists say his travails are part of the reason the freshman lawmaker now has a fight on her hands. He swooped into town briefly Friday for a closed-door fundraiser for Drake but made no public appearances.

Drake, who won with ease two years ago, is not alone. With approval ratings for Bush and congressional Republicans at a low ebb, GOP strategists see signs of weakness where they least expected it -- including a conservative, military-dominated suburb such as Virginia Beach -- and fear that their problems could grow worse unless the national mood brightens.

Some Republican veterans of the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress see worrisome parallels between then and now, in the way once-safe districts are turning into potential problems. Incumbents' poll numbers have softened. Margins against their Democratic opponents have narrowed. Republican voters appear disenchanted. The Bush effect now amounts to a drag of five percentage points or more in many districts.

The changes don't guarantee a Democratic takeover by any means, but they are creating an increasingly asymmetrical battlefield for the fall elections: The number of vulnerable Democratic districts has remained relatively constant while the number of potentially competitive Republican districts continues to climb.

Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of a political newsletter, now has 42 Republican districts, including Drake's, on his list of competitive races. Last September, he had 26 competitive GOP districts, and Drake's wasn't on the list. "That's a pretty significant increase," he said. "The national atmospherics are making long shots suddenly less long."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12878404/

"There's a sense that women are more honest."

Condi proves that wrong. "She Lies but does it with a great big smile." -- Rep. Maxine Waters referring to Condi at the Rainbow Push 2005

We are graduating not voting yelled a protestor to John McCain at the New York school's commencement speech Friday with massive protests. They were not pleased to be used for politics on their special day of graduation. I salute these young people.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/19/mccain.booed/index.html I urge readers to listen to this video to hear what our students really think of John McCain.

Top priority -raising indecency fines by a factor of 10 - for "smut" on TV - pet project of Brownback & Frist

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1982324&page=1

This is more "Handmaid's Tale" stuff from the anti-sex crowd. What's next? Arranged marriages?