A partisan purge too far
When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insists that his firing of several United States attorneys last December wasn't a political purge but merely a normal bureaucratic decision, many thousands of lawyers, judges, officers and officials surely wish to believe him. Anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the law and the Constitution in good faith -- indeed, anyone who cares about the rule of law -- can only contemplate the vandalism inflicted on our law-enforcement system by Gonzales and his deputies with foreboding.
Unfortunately, the credibility of Gonzales -- which was never very great -- is diminishing further as the facts behind the controversial round of firings continue to emerge. While his excuses and explanations for those dismissals evaporate under scrutiny, what can be seen instead is a familiar pattern of partisan misconduct.
Unfortunately, the credibility of Gonzales -- which was never very great -- is diminishing further as the facts behind the controversial round of firings continue to emerge. While his excuses and explanations for those dismissals evaporate under scrutiny, what can be seen instead is a familiar pattern of partisan misconduct.
Tell Sens. Voinovich and Brown: Rein in Bush on Iran
Yesterday, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced a bill to stop the war from escalating into Iran. His bill would prohibit President Bush from spending money for military operations in Iran without the consent of Congress. With Congress already struggling to get us out of the mess in Iraq, the president is edging us closer to war with Iran. We can't risk a repeat. Can you call your senators, Sens. Voinovich and Brown, and tell them to follow Webb's lead and support his bill on Iran?
Senator George Voinovich
Phone: 202-224-3353
Senator Sherrod Brown
Phone: 202-224-2315
Then, please report your call by clicking here:
Report your call
When you call, be polite but firm and speak from the heart. You can say something like "I am calling to ask the senator to support Sen. Webb's bill requiring congressional approval for military action in Iran, because..."
Senator George Voinovich
Phone: 202-224-3353
Senator Sherrod Brown
Phone: 202-224-2315
Then, please report your call by clicking here:
Report your call
When you call, be polite but firm and speak from the heart. You can say something like "I am calling to ask the senator to support Sen. Webb's bill requiring congressional approval for military action in Iran, because..."
Florida setting example
Charlie Crist, Florida's new Republican governor, will win points with voters across the nation for his recent proposal to abandon touch-screen voting machines. Florida's repudiation of the widely mistrusted machines could hasten an across-the-board abandonment — and thereby renew Americans' faith in the integrity of the vote.
Ever since the presidential election of 2000, Florida has been the poster child for controversial ballot counts. After the dispute was resolved, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, providing funds to replace outdated voting equipment.
Florida used its share to mothball the punch-card machines that had caused so many problems. But in many large counties, it replaced them with touch-screen systems that leave no paper trail. The drawbacks of these machines were dramatically illustrated last fall by a close congressional race in Sarasota, where 18,000 votes went unrecorded. The losing candidate, Democrat Christine Jennings, is pressing a challenge in court.
Ever since the presidential election of 2000, Florida has been the poster child for controversial ballot counts. After the dispute was resolved, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, providing funds to replace outdated voting equipment.
Florida used its share to mothball the punch-card machines that had caused so many problems. But in many large counties, it replaced them with touch-screen systems that leave no paper trail. The drawbacks of these machines were dramatically illustrated last fall by a close congressional race in Sarasota, where 18,000 votes went unrecorded. The losing candidate, Democrat Christine Jennings, is pressing a challenge in court.
Leaders don't kill people...
If I have my facts straight, George W. Bush has never killed a single person in his life. All the torture and death that people attribute to him has been carried out by people who were "only following orders."
Psychologically, I find this quite interesting. As a person, it doesn't appear that Bush would or could hurt anyone, especially not innocent people. But, as "commander-in-chief," he can order and oversee actions that result in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents without even batting an eye. A friend and critic of mine believes that leaders such as Bush assume full responsibility for the actions of a nation's military. I strongly disagree.
Psychologically, I find this quite interesting. As a person, it doesn't appear that Bush would or could hurt anyone, especially not innocent people. But, as "commander-in-chief," he can order and oversee actions that result in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents without even batting an eye. A friend and critic of mine believes that leaders such as Bush assume full responsibility for the actions of a nation's military. I strongly disagree.
I'm more pro-troop than you are
As war wages on in the Middle East, there's a heated battle on Capitol Hill over which political party's proposals to continue the war are more PRO-TROOP. There's a raging debate over exactly what set of futile recommendations to the dictator living in the Vice President's mansion on Massachusetts Avenue amounts to the greatest PRO or ANTI TROOP agenda.
Leading contestants are:
1.-a Republican proposal to give Cheney and Bush another $93 billion off the books for the war, no questions asked.
2.-a Democratic proposal to give Cheney and Bush another $93 billion off the books for the war but reauthorize the war with new lies in place of the old ones and/or ask the President to issue a public statement whenever he sends troops to Iraq without proper equipment or training, but not actually DO anything if the President chooses not to make such a public statement.
Leading contestants are:
1.-a Republican proposal to give Cheney and Bush another $93 billion off the books for the war, no questions asked.
2.-a Democratic proposal to give Cheney and Bush another $93 billion off the books for the war but reauthorize the war with new lies in place of the old ones and/or ask the President to issue a public statement whenever he sends troops to Iraq without proper equipment or training, but not actually DO anything if the President chooses not to make such a public statement.
The Employee Free Fire Zone Act
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power; gain our freedom when we learn
That the Union makes us strong.
The House has just passed the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would effectively restore to Americans the internationally and domestically recognized but nonexistant right to form unions. The US labor movement has invested untold millions in lobbying for this victory, and plans to invest untold more in trying to achieve the same victory in the Senate in the coming months. Should that happen, the fate of the bill is already known. Cheney has promised to have Bush veto it.
But that's not all Bush intends to veto. Here's a recent Associated Press story:
The House has just passed the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would effectively restore to Americans the internationally and domestically recognized but nonexistant right to form unions. The US labor movement has invested untold millions in lobbying for this victory, and plans to invest untold more in trying to achieve the same victory in the Senate in the coming months. Should that happen, the fate of the bill is already known. Cheney has promised to have Bush veto it.
But that's not all Bush intends to veto. Here's a recent Associated Press story:
New York Times spins health coverage opinion
The New York Times and CBS News recently polled the US public:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/03022007_poll.pdf
After a long list of questions that confused any distinction between health care and health coverage, the New York Times/CBS asked:
"Do you think it would be fair or unfair for the government in Washington to require all Americans to participate in a national health care plan, funded by taxpayers?"
By 48 to 43 percent, respondents said: unfair. But a strong majority had already said they thought it was very important for the government to cover everyone, even if it meant raising taxes. What was seen as unfair here, for some people, was almost certainly the national health care plan, which sounds like something more than a national health coverage plan. In fact it sounds like Walter Reed Hospital.
The New York Times article reporting on the poll quoted one respondent who obviously thought national health care, not just coverage, was being discussed:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/03022007_poll.pdf
After a long list of questions that confused any distinction between health care and health coverage, the New York Times/CBS asked:
"Do you think it would be fair or unfair for the government in Washington to require all Americans to participate in a national health care plan, funded by taxpayers?"
By 48 to 43 percent, respondents said: unfair. But a strong majority had already said they thought it was very important for the government to cover everyone, even if it meant raising taxes. What was seen as unfair here, for some people, was almost certainly the national health care plan, which sounds like something more than a national health coverage plan. In fact it sounds like Walter Reed Hospital.
The New York Times article reporting on the poll quoted one respondent who obviously thought national health care, not just coverage, was being discussed:
Testimony for impeachment hearing
FOR THE WASHINGTON STATE SENATE HEARING CALLING FOR THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO INVESTIGATE AND CONSIDER HEARINGS ON EVIDENCE THAT COULD LEAD TO THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND VICE-PRESIDENT RICHARD B. CHENEY
MARCH 1, 2007
MARCH 1, 2007
The persecution of Sami Al-Arian
One of the first big show trials here in the post-9/11 homeland was of a Muslim professor from Florida, now 49, Sami al-Arian. Pro-Israel hawks had resented this computer professor at the University of South Florida long before Atta and the hijackers flew their planes into the World Trade Center towers, because they saw al-Arian, a Palestinian born in Kuwait of parents kicked out of their homeland in 1948, as an effective agitator here for the Palestinian cause.