Monday, October 30, 2006

"We have met the enemy and they is us" -- Walt Kelly's 'Pogo"


Oh dear. Not only has the Deciderator decided that we can be declared 'enemy combatants' whenever he says so, he's a-linin' up the guys who are going to line us up and shoot us. Ta-da, our very own, local, your fathers-brothers-neighbors-etc, right-to-bear-arms, well-regulated militia, the National Guard. The Deciderator can now decide to deploy any state's National Guard without consulting the governor of the state! Cool, eh? The law was signed (very quietly) on October 17, 2006, buried in an omnibus bill. This is being tracked by some bloggers who call themselves 'Federalists for Independence in National Guard Response'(FINGER). More at www.finger2006.com

"It's not the votes that count, it's who counts the votes" Joseph Stalin (attrib)

This from Adie at Fire Dog Lake: Special thanks to carolyn urban for providing some wonderful links to me yesterday eve, in re: fighting election fraud. [the notes beside links are carolyn urban’s]

Links for fighting against election theft:

http://www.solarbus.org
on this site, go through the Peace and Justice tab and then scroll down to Election Justice Center.

Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections
http://www.caseohio.org

http://www.votetrustusa.org
on this site I’d click States. They list organizations on the left but I checked them out and the only one that looks promising is the Citizens Alliance, above. But if you click on Ohio on the right hand list it catches you up on all the latest - well, I don’t know how latest - but news.

http://blackboxvoting.org
has lots of stuff, including a citizen toolkit that might be useful.

http://voteraction.org
the “watch the vote” page looked good.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

We interupt this blog...


Oh dear, "Something" happened (or this blogger clicked wrong link, mea culpa) and the entire contents of HotFlash was seriously snookered. Template/css instructions displaying on screen. Whooeee. Attempts to fix only made matters worse, and I finally deep-sixed the entire blog in order to get anything displaying correctly (in order to save the blog I had to destroy the blog...). I have made back-up copies of everything and will repost as time permits. In case you were holding your breath or anything.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

A Modest Proposal to Save the Democratic Party


Carolyn Kay of MakeThemAccountable.com tells me she doesn't know who wrote the post below, it just came to her in an e-mail. I have googled for it and come up with nada -- but this stuff should be shouted from the housetops. Anonymous Chicagoan, whoever you are -- what a great idea!


A PROPOSAL TO SAVE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY (author unknown):

Instead of spending $500 million dollars on TV commercials every 4 years, why doesn't the Democratic Party start using its money to open neighborhood offices that help people with day-to-day problems like getting their heat turned back on, or finding a lawyer, or getting something to eat? I'm not talking about political offices that open up a few months before an election and annoy people with a bunch of phone calls. I'm talking about permanent offices where people can get real help for real problems. Finding a doctor. Getting a tutor for their kids. A gym for kids to play ball in after school.

You know what you've got if you build something like this?

A recognizable brand, that's what you've got.

A trusted brand.

A political party that's known for rolling up its sleeves and getting its hands dirty and making a difference in people's lives. A political party that's not corrupt. A political party that's a palpable force - instead of simply another disposable consumer product being hawked on TV every few years.

True loyalty comes out of stuff like this, a loyalty that can't be swayed by glib 30 second entreaties. This is the politics of the real, not a reality show. When you stop and think about the system we have now, it's completely stupid: a bunch of new hairdo's comes along every 4 years with a bunch of focus-grouped "issues" and the media puts on a reality show that results in... nothing! Nothing but revenue for TV stations! And, of course, another big thumbs up for one of the two wings of the ruling party. After it's all over, the losing hairdo skulks off in infamy to grow a beard or write his memoirs or lobby for some corporation - and the status quo tightens its grip.

I'm sick of it.

We`re all sick of it.

Imagine a city street. Imagine an old storefront, refurbished and redecorated. Imagine a neon sign that says "Democratic Party Headquarters." Inside is a wireless internet cafe, bulletin boards, volunteers manning help desks. Maybe there's a cafeteria in there, maybe a health clinic, a child care center. Whatever it is, it's real people, together, helping each other, creating a community. Using the money they raise to make a real difference in the neighborhoods where they live. And giving people the tools for Democracy. Imagine hundreds of these places, all over the country, where people can meet and talk and plan and organize.

Hey, maybe it's my Chicago roots coming back. Ask Soros to help. Michael Moore. Barbra Streisand. Clooney. All the usual Hollywood honchos. Steve Jobs.

How about "Newman's Own Democracy Cafes," with good organic food and nutritious political information. "Ben and Kerry's." Whatever. Make the Democratic Party a grassroots movement. And make sure you open offices in rural areas. Bush policies hurt rural economies even more than they hurt cities. Thousands of people donated millions of dollars to get Kerry elected, and what did we get for our money? TV commercials. Air! Poof, it's gone! Why not ask people to donate to something lasting, that does real good, and has political clout as a result? I know I'd rather give money for this kind of real political action than the Theatre of the Absurd we have now. Sure, this smacks of old-fashioned machine politics. So what? What have we got now? Nothing but an advertising campaign with no product, just promises, promises, promises. It works for the corporations and the giant media conglomerates. But it's worthless for everybody else The creation of neighborhood Democratic Party Headquarters could be the tactic that finally evens the playing field with the Republican's use of churches.

Say what you will about right wing churches - but if one of their flock needs something to eat, they can at least usually get a hot meal. That's more than you can say for the great progressive party of the New Deal and the Great Society. When's the last time the Democratic Party ever fed anybody - let alone found them a job?

Sure, the wingnuts will call it demogoguery. They'll call it a return to machine politics. They'll say Democrats are buying votes. Good!

Let `em say it all they want! The point is, when you help people, they don't forget it. And with what is coming our way now, people are gonna be needing all the help they can get.

What do you think?

Monday, October 09, 2006

Legislating a war crime is a war crime


International lawyer Scott Horton in his Remarks delivered at the ASIL Centennial Conference on The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, Bowling Green, OH, Oct. 7, 2006 concludes that when America is brought to justice by the world, and he speaks of it as a certainty, the lawyers who have made war crimes the policy of a nation will be found guilty of those crimes in an extraordinary degree.


"In France, innumerable summary executions occur, even as I sit here writing. Each day certainly more than a thousand people are killed, and thousands of German men experience murder as a matter of routine. And yet all of that is child's play compared to what's going on in Poland and Russia. Can I learn about this and just sit at the table in my heated apartment and drink tea? Don't I establish my complicity simply by doing nothing? What will I say in the future, when someone asks me: and what did you do during this time?"

- Helmuth von Moltke, in a letter to his wife, Oct. 19, 1941


Professor Horton starts with the premise that

In a proper society, the lawyers are the guardians of law, and in times of war, their role becomes solemn.


I urge you to read Professor Horton's calm but inexorable analysis of the shameful and barbaric Military Commissions Act of 2006 in its entirety at Balkinization, but I will reprint this terrifying yet reassuring conclusion here:

If the consequence of the Act is to immunize those who authorized these techniques from prosecution, is that lawful? The US position, articulated most recently in connection with Yugoslavia's efforts to immunize its military leaders, was that any such act would only provide evidence of a broader conspiracy to commit war crimes. Consequently, the grant of immunity is ineffective in the contemplation of the international community; moreover, those involved in purporting to grant immunity may thereby be roped into a charged joint criminal enterprise.


So. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is a war crime, and any legislator who voted for it is a war criminal. Senator Stabenow, to my immense disappointment, voted for it; the rest of the names are here (Senate) and here(House of Representatives). I hope I live long enough to see them tried at the International Court of Justice.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

I cannot believe she did that


Why in the name of all that is good and holy did Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) vote for the Military Commissions Act of 2006? There is absolutely *no* conceivable reason for her to have done so. I cannot begin to say how much she disgusts me.

It would have passed without her vote. So what she is really saying is, "I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows that I really *love* torture and I am *so* happy to see the end of habeas corpus." What next? Has she earned MI one of those spiffy new KBR internment camps?

This woman does not deserve one Democrat's vote this November -- although I sincerely hope everyone will hold their nose and do it anyway. I cannot wait to begin campaigning for her opponent next primary. This woman has got to go.