110th Congress of Ostriches....

 

Powell Calls for Closure of Military Prison at Guantanamo By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 11, 2007

Editorial A Duty to the Displaced
The United States should do more for Iraqi refugees. Washington Post Monday, June 11, 2007

"Rights and Liberties - Democrats Fail in Election Oversight...While the White House emails show top-ranking Republicans wanted federal prosecutors to file voter fraud cases against Democrats, the Judiciary Committee report found much more extensive voter fraud was perpetrated on behalf of Republicans, such as in rural Perry County, where "there appears to be an extraordinarily high level of 91 percent voter registration, yet a substantial number of these voters have never voted and have no signature on file." Of these, 3,100 voters registered on Nov. 8, 1977, a year with no major election. That is what systematic election fraud looks like." By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted May 29, 2007

I've been reading through my Technorati favorites the past few days, like always, but with some sort of gray cloud hanging over head. The titles have been depressing, cuz the news has been depressing. Even though my favorites give me the best up to date news, I have hesitated on clicking on them to read more. I don't want to know more, just for now, maybe later. While I have been glancing at my Technorati favorites, I have been ruminating over Part 4 - How a person can go about getting their voting rights back after a felony conviction, should be laid out.

I'm blocked even though there's a ton of information left. It could be I'm blocked because the past weeks news has held no ray of promise ahead. It could be a realization that there are no Congressional Representatives (honest ones) willing to put a spot light on the subject of past voting problems and preventing future ones...it isn't just about the voting equipment. Or, it could be that the entire 110th Congress is reminding me of a line of Ostriches with their heads stuck in the sand....whispering the same talking points. Or, oddly that a picture of the dome of the capital reminded me of a boil on the butt of democracy, the other day.

I was inspired by the 2008 elections up until a few weeks ago, but not now. This funky mood will pass, I hope. So, writing about someone's right to vote, who lost it to a felony conviction is dampened by the thought of over all voter suppression. If a clear cut case is not made, through the effort of some brave and honest congressional committee, then what does it matter 'who' can vote at all? 2008 isn't gonna matter to those that matter. Have the fanatic 'fatalists' gotten to me? A bit maybe. But not to sway me to their way of thinking. I am still standing strong on my little piece of pacifist ground....no war, no invasion, no occupation, no torturing, no murdering!

As long as 'We' are the invading force, in a land we have no business being in, as long as we continue to be the force the world is afraid of, then everything else that we aspire to as a country, means nothing. A guy who helps the blind called into the The Washington Journal this morning, advocating the planting of mine fields placed at our borders. Mine fields that would maim and kill people -- children and seniors -- trying to cross the border into the United States!

He said 'thanks' to the Limbaugh's of our nation, that 'they' were the reason the bill was defeated on illegal immigration. Now I know there are people out there who desire the taste of blood...people who are my neighbors..(shudder) and people who are elected officials (double shudder). Maybe the fanatic fatalists are winning. Maybe the thirst for someone's bloody death is so great a desire, that they are becoming whipped up in a frenzy...by the fantasy of bloody death. I hope that guy who called into The Washington Journal -- the one who provides services to the blind -- hears from his co-workers and family, hears from someone of sincere compassion for humanity. You either have it for 'all' or you have none at all. Jeeze!

The Earth Is Not Flat - We Just Think It Is.... Sunday, May 14, 2006

Immigration Judges Often Picked Based On GOP Ties Law Forbids Practice; Courts Being Reshaped By Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen Washington Post Monday, June 11, 2007

U.S. Holding 400 Immigrants Including Children "The U.S. government has blocked a United Nations expert from visiting"....

Obsidian Wings But seven- and nine-year olds "The evidence that our government held Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's sons is not conclusive, and I do not mean to suggest that it is. Still, if you had told me, six years ago, that I would find myself seriously entertaining the possibility that my own government had detained children more or less the same age, I would have thought you were insane. Disappearing people of any age, without charges or trial or anything, is what two-bit dictators do; not what we do. But disappearing children, not seventeen year olds about whom one might have interesting debates about when exactly childhood ends but seven- and nine-year olds -- that's so far across the line that it would have been unimaginable to me. And the fact, if it is one, that they are supposedly "handled with kid gloves" and "given the best of care" does not begin to make up for this. Detention is not "the best of care" for anyone. It is certainly not "the best of care" for a young child."

darrylplant.com got a Call From the DCCC June 7, 2007 "When I explained my stance and rationale to the woman on the phone, she brought up the Iraq war supplemental and told me that "we" couldn't leave our troops over there without supplies, which was why some sort of funding bill had to be passed. I responded that she shouldn't be using Republican talking points and from there the conversation got a little bit heated, with her telling me that the troops in Iraq would "starve" without the money from the supplemental. Really. That's what she told me. The troops would "starve"." read more....

MFSO members speaking out against the war -- Occupation -- From the mother of a recently extended solider in Iraq: Stand strong when you explain that de-funding the war is not de-funding or abandoning our troops. Let the American people know what we as military families know – that de-funding the war will not leave our troops without equipment or supplies. On April 19th, 2007, letters from MFSO members were delivered to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, calling on her to show leadership in funding the troops, de-funding the war, bringing our troops home now and taking care of them when they get here. Click on the excerpts below to read the full letters to Speaker Pelosi.

How to Be A Dissident President A Chance for Bush To Live Up to His Words By Jackson Diehl Monday, June 11, 2007

Bush Mantra: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid June 8, 2007 By Joseph L. Galloway Huffington Post


CAN BUSH CONTINUE TO SHAPE THE DIRECTION OF THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY? DownWithTyranny Sunday, June 10, 2007




Center For Constitutional Rights

The Center for Constitutional Rights (originally "Law Center for Constitutional Rights") was founded in November 1966 by attorneys Morton Stavis, Arthur Kinoy, Ben Smith and William Kunstler, whose legal work representing civil rights activists in Mississippi convinced them of the need for a privately funded legal center to undertake innovative, impact litigation on behalf of popular movements for social justice.

BILL OF RIGHTS (THE FIRST 10 AMENDMENTS TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION)

1-Freedom of worship, speech, press, right of peaceful assembly, right to petition the government

2-Right of citizens to bear arms

3-Troops may not be quartered in private homes without owner's consent

4-Guards against unreasonable searches, arrests, seizures of property

5-Requires indictment by a grand jury for major crimes before trial, prohibits repeated trials for the same offense, forbids punishment without process & that you don't have to testify against yourself

6-Guarantees a speedy public trial for criminal offenses, trial by an unbiased jury, legal counsel for the accused, and that witnesses must attend the trial in the presence of the accused

7-Guarantees trial by jury in civil cases in anything valued at more than 20 US dollars

8-Forbids excessive bail or fines and cruel or unusual punishment

9-People have other rights than those mentioned in the Constitution

10-Powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or the people


From BuzzFlash..."Conservatives Worry About Court Vacancies." Dems Shouldn't Confirm a Single Bushevik Federal Court Nominee Until Bush and Cheney and Rove are Gone -- And Nominees Who Believe in the Constitution -- Not Ideological Loyalty-- are Nominated.