In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Ha!
Daily Kos :: Evangelicals Caught on Tape: We Can Shut Down the Courts!
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Groundhog Day
Invisibility is opaque, not transparent: A note from no one, on the eve of destruction. From the mausoleum, a letter to the dead. Notice the date.From: Michael
Sent: 2/2/03 7:46 PM
Subject: Re:Impact
I think the shuttle streaming flames like a comet over our heads is an ill omen, a foretokening of disaster, that dark things are in store. When did Americans get it into their heads that we can just have a war like we're going to the supermarket? And since when does one guy decide who, where and when? To say nothing of why? Did you notice how swiftly we were all manipulated into the position of having to defend peace and coming up with reasons NOT to go to war? How it all so quickly became a matter not of if, but when? How we've been stampeded into it, like everything else this administration does, illegally, unconstitutionally, and immorally? How willing we are -- and how complicit -- to blithely accept and assume the agonizing deaths of more than a million people, because we have turned them into unpeople and swallowed a monstrous lie? And that the lie just keeps getting bigger, every day? How we've come to accept with resignation, abnegation, and equanimity outrageous and criminal acts from an imperious, impish tyrant and his thugs who claim to represent our government? And how someone else is always responsible for the crimes perpetrated by selfsame? By the time America wakes up and cries Betrayed! it will be too late. It's already too late.
Sorry to sound dire, but I see nothing but bad things ahead of us as a country. I feel like we're under a dark shadow, that invading Iraq will prove folly and quickly become a nightmare, a quagmire with no end in sight and all the devils of hell in it. And we'll be there for 30 years, at least. And now you have to argue with people to convince them that war isn't a good thing! You know what I say? Beware of unintended consequences. War is unpredictable. The illusion is that we can set our clocks to it, that we call all the shots, we decide who wins and who gets to stay in power, as if it were a matter of carving up pieces of pie and dishing them out to all the greedy hands. This is what happens to a nation that measures everything in terms of right and wrong, good and evil, white and black. It makes killing that much easier, because it's less troubling. And the only dead that count are the ones on our side. It stuns and horrifies me that Americans don't understand their own country's history, that they prefer fraudulent to authentic, the insupportable lie and cheat to careful reckoning, that war is packaged and sold as entertainment for profit, that life and death is a football game with expensive commercials. Ahistorical and brain dead, we've become one giant lurid appetite.
From: carey
Subject: Re: Impact
Date: Monday, February 03, 2003 12:10 PM
I think it's odd that debris is falling in Palestine ... Texas. The LA
times keeps showing chunks on the ground in Palestine.
We've come a long way, baby -- waitaminute, we haven't budged an inch. They say our love won't pay the rent ...
Rise and shine, campers! It's gonna be cooooooooold outside ...
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Powell quietly giving his conscience some air
Powell Playing Quiet Role in Bolton BattleFormer secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind-the-scenes player in the battle over John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, privately telling at least two key Republican lawmakers that Bolton is a smart but very problematic government official, according to Republican sources.
Powell spoke in recent days with Sens. Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), two of three GOP senators on the Foreign Relations Committee who have raised concerns about Bolton's confirmation, the sources said. Powell did not advise the senators to oppose Bolton, but offered a frank assessment of the nominee as a man who was challenging to work with on personnel and policy matters, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
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Curious about Bush bouncer? Follow bouncing stall tacticIt was the teensiest bit unnerving to be a spectator at the Republican National Convention last summer in those moments when the massive security at Madison Square Garden was breached.But it seems more and more people are asking. It is a good question.
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At the first peep of dissent, a throng of burly guards would swarm the dastardly demonstrator. Thousands of delegates would immediately begin chanting, "Four more years! Four more years!" in thunderous unison.
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It was no big deal. This was a party gig, after all. The Republicans paid for the convention and they had every right to screen the audience, control the message and silence anyone who strayed from the script.
But once the party faithful get used to that kind of, well, efficiency, upholding the Bill of Rights after the election can be such a drag.
Which brings us to March 21 at the president's town hall meeting on Social Security privatization. (Note: This was not a party function.)
Karen Bauer, Alex Young and Leslie Weise were removed from the event because they dared to arrive in a car with a bumper sticker that said, "No More Blood for Oil." They also admit to wearing Democratic underwear.
The identity of the bouncer, dressed to look like a Secret Service agent, has remained a stubborn secret despite demands from congressmen, senators and lawyers for the three ejected audience members.
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FBI PROTECTS OSAMA BIN LADEN'S "RIGHT TO PRIVACY" IN DOCUMENT RELEASE
Judicial Watch Investigation Uncovers FBI Documents Concerning Bin Laden Family and Post-9/11 Flights(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) has invoked privacy right protections on behalf of al Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden. In a September 24, 2003 declassified “Secret” FBI report obtained by Judicial Watch, the FBI invoked Exemption 6 under FOIA law on behalf of bin Laden, which permits the government to withhold all information about U.S. persons in “personnel and medical files and similar files” when the disclosure of such information “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) (2000))
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The redacted documents were obtained by Judicial Watch under the provisions of the FOIA and through ongoing litigation (Judicial Watch v. Department of Homeland Security & Federal Bureau of Investigation, No. 04-1643 (RWR)). Among the documents was a declassified “Secret” FBI report, dated September 24, 2003, entitled: “Response to October 2003 Vanity Fair Article (Re: [Redacted] Family Departures After 9/11/2001).” Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request on October 7, 2003. The full text of the report and related documents are available on the Internet by clicking here (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).
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So I read about this company where nearly one-third of the employees were fired after failing drug tests, and I thought to myself... hey this must be where thet train Congresspersons!- Thursday, April 21, 2005 -
What percent of Congress have criminal records? (from 2000)After researching public records, newspaper articles, civil court transcripts, and criminal records, Capitol Hill Blue discovered that:I think I got this link from a Dkos diary.
- 29 members of Congress have been accused of spousal abuse.
- 7 have been arrested for fraud.
- 19 have been accused of writing bad checks.
- 117 have bankrupted at least two businesses.
- 3 have been arrested for assault.
- 71 have credit reports so bad they can't qualify for a credit card.
- 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges.
- 8 have been arrested for shoplifting.
- 21 are current defendants in lawsuits.
- And in 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving, but released after they claimed Congressional immunity.
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Its just like a conversation at my home!
Move America Forward[dinner sound effects/cutlery]Thanks to the Other Michael for the link.
Wife: Honey, were you watching C-SPAN today? Did you hear how disloyal Senator Voinovich was to Republicans and President Bush? Voinovich stood with the Democrats and refused to vote for John Bolton, the man President Bush has chosen to fight for the United States at the UN
Husband: No, I was streaming it on the Internet at the office, but from what I could tell, Senator Voinovich played hookey from the hearings?
Wife: Yeah that’s right. He’s missed most of the Bolton confirmation hearings, but then shows up at the last minute and stabs the President and Republicans right in the back.
Husband: That’s ridiculous – the United Nations needs reform, we need someone who will stand up for the United States and fight the UN’s corruption and anti-Americanism.
Wife: Shame on Senator Voinovich. After the Democrats smeared Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State and Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, how could Voinovich side with the Democrats in smearing John Bolton?
Husband: It seems like Senator Voinovich has become a traitor to the Republican Party.
Wife: Enough’s enough. I’m logging on to Move America Forward dot com to register my protest with Senator Voinovich’s office.
Husband: What was that site? Move America Forward dot com ?
Wife: Yep, Move America Forward dot com
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When Santorum isn't obsessing about man-dog sex, he's obsessing about how to screw the public while aiding a company based in his home state (two birds with one stone you know)
Weather info could go darkDo you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? Or weather data beamed to your cellphone?Wow! He made similar arguments? What a coincidence.
That information is available for free from the National Weather Service.
But under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, it might all disappear.
The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.
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A spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the bill threatens to push the weather service back to a "pre-Internet era" ? a questionable move in light of the four hurricanes that struck the state last year. Nelson serves on the Senate Commerce Committee, which has been assigned to consider the bill.
"The weather service proved so instrumental and popular and helpful in the wake of the hurricanes. How can you make an argument that we should pull it off the Net now?" said Nelson's spokesman, Dan McLaughlin. "What are you going to do, charge hurricane victims to go online, or give them a pop-up ad?"
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"The National Weather Service has not focused on what its core mission should be, which is protecting other people's lives and property," said Myers, whose company is based in State College, Pa. Instead, he said, "It spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year, every day, producing forecasts of 'warm and sunny.'"
Santorum made similar arguments April 14 when introducing his bill.
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A government for its self by its self and full of itself may soon vanish from the earth.
Rising D.C. building symbolizes government wasteIf you visit our nation's Capitol building these days, you can't miss the gigantic construction pit on the building's east side. Someday, this pit will be the Capitol Visitor Center.
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The Government Accounting Office is now reporting that the costs of the CVC will soon rise to $559 million. This is more than twice the original price tag of $265 million. And remember, Congress isn't building a fancy new sports stadium, library, or concert hall. They are constructing an underground visitors center!
But it turns out this construction boondoggle, which has already destroyed crucial parts of the historic 130-year-old capitol landscaping, is not just for security. The Visitors Center will include a 600-person dining facility, a large exhibition gallery, two film theaters, and gift shops. The last time I checked, the Capitol building already had a dining facility, lots of exhibits, and gift shops.
In their self serving orgy, members of Congress also added $70 million to the visitors center budget for television/radio studios, reception rooms, and "hideaway offices" for members who need to escape from their regular offices. I'm not sure what any of that has to do with security. But I know it has a lot to do with narcissism. The fact is, the Capitol building already has television/radio studios, reception rooms, and "hideaway offices."
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While Congress Plays the Fiddle
Economic Worries Aren't Resonating on HillInflation and interest rates are rising, stock values have plunged, a tank of gas induces sticker shock, and for nearly a year, wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living.The difficulty we are in is both cause and result of Congress's obsession of politics for politics sake.
Yet in Washington, the political class has been consumed with the death of a brain-damaged woman in Florida, the ethics of the House majority leader, and the fate of the Senate filibuster.
The disconnect between pocketbook concerns of ordinary Americans and the preoccupations of their politicians has helped send President Bush's approval ratings on the economy down, while breeding discontent with Congress.
As the state of affairs gets worse our congress (especially the current GOP... though I'm sure many Democrats will join in) will jump deeper into the discussion of religion and its place in America's government. Because your constituents will still vote for you even while their homes burn if they believe you are aiding in saving their souls. And convincing people of that seems to be easier than actually solving problems.
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Dang! Open a window already!
Krugman: A Whiff of StagflationIn the 1970's soaring prices of oil and other commodities led to stagflation - a combination of high inflation and high unemployment, which left no good policy options. If the Fed cut interest rates to create jobs, it risked causing an inflationary spiral; if it raised interest rates to bring inflation down, it would further increase unemployment.Fears of Rising Inflation Send Shares to New Lows for '05
Can it happen again?
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But those whose standard of living depends on wages, not capital gains - in other words, the vast majority of Americans - aren't feeling particularly prosperous. By two to one, people tell pollsters that the economy is "only fair" or "poor," not "good" or "excellent."
Why, then, has the Fed been raising interest rates? Because it is worried about inflation, which has risen to the top end of the 2 to 3 percent range the Fed prefers.
What's driving inflation? Not wages: labor costs have been falling, because wages are growing less than productivity. Oil prices are a big part of the story, but not all of it. Other commodity prices are also rising; health care costs are once again on the march. And a combination of capacity shortages, rising Asian demand and a weakening dollar has given industries like cement and steel new "pricing power."
It all adds up to a mild case of stagflation: inflation is leading the Fed to tap on the brakes, even though this doesn't look or feel like a full-employment economy.
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Suppose that Asian central banks decide that they already have too many dollars. Suppose that the housing bubble bursts. Any of these events could easily turn our mild case of stagflation into something much more serious.
How do we get out of this bind? As the old joke goes, I wouldn't start from here. We should have spent the years of cheap oil encouraging conservation; we should have spent the years of modest growth in medical costs reforming our health care system. Oh, and we'd have a wider range of policy options if the budget weren't so deeply in deficit.
So if any of these things does come to pass, we'll just have to see how well an administration in which political operatives make all economic policy decisions, and the Treasury secretary is only a salesman, handles crises.ears of rising inflation sent stocks to new lows for the year yesterday after the government reported a sharp increase in consumer prices that all but guaranteed that the Federal Reserve would continue to push interest rates higher even as the economy may be slowing.
Last week investors were worried about the effect of slower economic growth on corporate earnings. The addition of inflation fears to the mix could put nerves on Wall Street even more on edge.
A 0.6 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index last month was the largest in five months, the government reported. The 0.4 percent jump in the core rate, which excludes food and energy, was twice the forecast from analysts and the biggest monthly increase in nearly four years.
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Read: AMERICAblog: TAKE ACTION: Microsoft abandons gays- Wednesday, April 20, 2005 -
Okay Bill Gates's Charity does great work, Word 5 is a good word processor (yep the 1993 version... the last good one), and um... that's it for the plus side. So Microsoft decides to yet again add to the already overloaded negative column.
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Because it was Monday earlier this week: The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 194 - Democratic Underground3. Senate Republicans
Now is also probably a good time to remind ourselves of how well the Republicans are treating our military. Last week Senate Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to add more money for veterans' health care to a supplemental appropriations bill in a party-line 54-46 vote. According to the Marine Corps Times, the money - which the Republicans voted against - was to "cover costs of treating returning combat veterans for war-related injuries and to cover shortfalls in funding for VA programs." Thad Cochran (R-Naturally), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that the money was "not really an emergency need." I wonder how Republicans are going to explain that to the injured veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan? No, don't tell me - they'll blame the Democrats.
4. Wolf Blitzer
Here's a shining example of the insidious conservative spin that infests the corporate media: on a recent edition of CNN's Inside Politics, Wolf Blitzer discussed the Pope's funeral with Crossfire hosts Paul Begala (the liberal one) and Robert Novak (the treasonous one). He introduced the segment thusly:While they were united today in mourning the death of the pope, U.S. Catholics are a diverse group, as illustrated by two of our Crossfire co-hosts, the conservative Robert Novak, the liberal Paul Begala. Both good Catholics - I don't know "good" Catholics, but both Catholics. I'm sure Bob is a good Catholic, I'm not so sure about Paul Begala.Huh... interesting. Now why would Bob Novak be a good Catholic, but Paul Begala a bad one? Sure, Paul Begala is in favor of things like a woman's right to choose, which goes against the church's official positions - but Robert Novak is a strong supporter of things like the death penalty and Bush's invasion of Iraq, which also goes against the church's official positions. So why did Wolfie decided that Novak was the good Catholic and Begala was the bad Catholic? Aside from the fact that Blitzer is a biased fool, obviously?
Fortunately Paul Begala decided to take offense at Wolf's aspersion asking, "who are you to pass moral judgment on my religion, Mr. Blitzer?" and reminding him that "My eldest son is named John Paul, after the Pope." He continued, "I'm serious, that annoys me. I don't think anybody should presume that a liberal is not a good Catholic." A cowed Blitzer had to finish with a lame, "I was only teasing," and said, "Don't be so sensitive." Nice thing to say to someone on the day of their church leader's funeral, eh?
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Because Bush started a war the pope at the time described as a defeat for humanity which could not be morally or legally justified.
"When war, as in these days in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is ever more urgent to proclaim, with a strong and decisive voice, that only peace is the road to follow to construct a more just and united society.... Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of man."
Because Bush was so pro-capital punishment he was the number one killer governor since capital punishment was again made legal.
Because hypocrisy is as alive in religion as in politics....
and because combining religion with politics is just going to make the fun flow like blood.
New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaignWASHINGTON (AFP) - German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate John Kerry.
In a June 2004 letter to US bishops enunciating principles of worthiness for communion recipients, Ratzinger specified that strong and open supporters of abortion should be denied the Catholic sacrament, for being guilty of a "grave sin."
He specifically mentioned "the case of a Catholic politician consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws," a reference widely understood to mean Democratic candidate Kerry, a Catholic who has defended abortion rights.
The letter said a priest confronted with such a person seeking communion "must refuse to distribute it."
A footnote to the letter also condemned any Catholic who votes specifically for a candidate because the candidate holds a pro-abortion position. Such a voter "would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy communion," the letter read.
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DeLay Slams Supreme Court JusticeAnd he pointed to Kennedy as an example of Republican members of the Supreme Court who were activist and isolated.How outrageous using the internet for research (only one... Bush uses all the internets you know)!!!!
"Absolutely. We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."
Although Kennedy was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan, a conservative icon, he has aroused conservatives' ire by sometimes agreeing with the court's more liberal members. Nevertheless, it is unusual for a congressional leader to single out a Supreme Court justice for criticism.
DeLay does his research the old fashioned way he gets all his facts from his staff who got their facts from the lobbyists who paid for the luxurious hotel and spa. That is the way God and the Constitution wanted research done!
Doing research on the internet!?! Doesn't Justice Kennedy know he could get a virus... and then he could infect the other Justices.
Good Lord Man! Think of the Children!
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Just a reminder: The Republican party has degenerated into a hypocritical corrupt rotting mass. Pity.
Daily Kos :: GOP filibuster of Clinton judicial nomineeThe Republicans used committees and a host of since-discarded rules (like one requiring both home state senators to sign off on any judicial nominees) to hold up a large slate of Clinton judicial nominees. It was their preferred method of obstruction, which they gleefully wielded.
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Sen. Smith, Republican of NH, even said on the floor of the Senate:But don't pontificate on the floor of the Senate and tell me that somehow I am violating the Constitution of the United States of America by blocking a judge or filibustering a judge that I don't think deserves to be on the circuit court because I am going to continue to do it at every opportunity I believe a judge should not be on that court. That is my responsibility. That is my advise and consent role, and I intend to exercise it. I don't appreciate being told that somehow I am violating the Constitution of the United States. I swore to uphold that Constitution, and I am doing it now by standing up and saying what I am saying." (March 7, 2000)Frist voted with Smith on his filibuster. [emphasis mine]
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Hey - don't forget - Black Box Voting is fighting the good fight. You know the fight for valid election results... you know... democracy
Diebold Lobbyist Documents Reveal ProblemsOrtega has been a senior communications executive at Rose & Kindel. The curious selection of an executive for the Diebold lobbying firm for a position with the office of Secretary of State was noted by the Los Angeles Times, but so far no one has reported the actual amount of money paid by Diebold Election Systems to Rose & Kindel.Hack of Real-Life Voting System Demonstrated
The reported amount -- over $100,000 -- shows that Diebold Election Systems has been a major client.
However, check stubs obtained by Black Box Voting indicate that Diebold has been paying significantly more for Rose & Kindel lobbying than they reported. From April through June, 2004, Diebold reported only $7,526 -- yet the check stubs reveal actual payments for May and June alone totalled $45,248.In another real-world example, Black Box Voting obtained the actual files used in the Nov. 2 election in a specific county. In this situation, the local officials did not know how to run their Diebold system, so a Diebold tech ran the election in that county. Election officials remembered the Diebold tech's first name, but not his last name.
The Diebold tech had gone home after the election, and no one in the county was able to access their own voting system, leading to some consternation because they could not provide our public records request.
Because local officials could not access their logs, we were given permission to sit down and copy files. (We have since found that this is not an isolated problem -- many local officials are painfully unfamiliar with their own voting systems.)
Local officials did not know their password, so Bev Harris asked if they would like her to hack the password. They said "yes" (!)
Later, to our even greater surprise, Bev Harris found that the password set by the Diebold tech on this real election file, used in the Nov. 2004 election was ... drum roll please ... the diabolically clever password: "diebold." (This took only two tries to guess.)
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If you've been missing Liberal Penguin's posts here at TCS. Don't worry that flightless bird is feeling fine.... He is just busy with this "life" thing.- Tuesday, April 19, 2005 -
However he is still posting over at his site, such as this excellent post: A Tyranny of MisperceptionsNational polls, taken before the election, have shown that approximately forty two percent of the American public believes that Saddam Hussein was directly tied to the September Eleventh terrorist strikes. As has been noted by several angry Education activists over the years, the number one newspaper in this country is the National Enquirer. I remember Bill Maher ranting furiously on his show's season premier last year that convention viewership had fallen for the Democratic Convention as opposed to their 2000 ratings. The significance of this must be stressed: During a war, the American public doesn't care about its government or the election, certainly not enough to take it seriously.Actually... just go read the whole post on his site. It makes multiple points in reference to multiple issues.
The 2004 Presidential Election drew the largest voter turn-out since 1968, but it wasn't enough. During a war, the American public couldn't be asked to rise at the polls in unprecedented numbers. This is largely because of the press, I feel. Conservatives love to blame liberals for the media - biased reporters! - but the problem with the media comes with its insatiable need for money. Editors are no longer in the business for the reckless pursuit of truth, they are in it for the love of money. This isn't entirely their fault.
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have read what I consider horror stories about newspaper editors spiking pieces for fear of a corporation pulling the plug on its promotions in that paper. When it comes crunch time, a newspaper's job - a real newspaper - is to provide the news to the American public without fear of the Government. Freedom of the press is one of a few things that has kept this country going for so long, but our media is currently being held hostage by big money and tabloid trash and they, in turn, are holding the gun of ignorance to the American public's temple. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the coverage given to the CIA about Iraqi WMD over the course of the last few years, and the crimes of misrepresentation and poor analysis that have come to be perpetrated against the public record in regard to the driving forces behind the invasion of Iraq.In Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack, George W. Bush is seen calling the CIA for Iraqi Intelligence and becoming disappointed by the lack of truly frightening information that he had, and thus he requested more and more briefings, telling his briefers that the information must be scarier so as to be better presented to the American public. In Ron Suskind's The Price of Loyalty, the Cabinet is presented with map-sized spy photographs of alleged Chemical Weapons plants, prompting Paul O'Neill to dissent, telling the room that he's seen many plants which looked just like it all over the world, so what made this one a chemical weapons facility? Dissent is not particularly valued by this Administration, so you know what happened to Treasury Secretary O'Neill? He was fired.Wow a lot of thought and time went into that post.
From what I have gathered through books such as Suskind's and Woodward's, the Bush Administration (starting straight at the President) demanded the best (read: scariest) intelligence on Iraq, and ignored Tenet's frustration (displayed in several accounts of his time at the CIA) over the Agency's lack of in-Iraq sources.
Speaking of time... I really don't have much right now, not even for my typical post where no thought went into them. Hopefully I'll fit in a few at lunch.
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11th Amendment- Monday, April 18, 2005 -
Here's the 11th Amendment, my letter from long ago to Hillary Clinton on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, and today's editorial from the NYTimes. Make up your own mind:
[Article XI.]
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
Proposal and Ratification
The eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Third Congress, on the 4th of March 1794; and was declared in a message from the President to Congress, dated the 8th of January, 1798, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States. The dates of ratification were: New York, March 27, 1794; Rhode Island, March 31, 1794; Connecticut, May 8, 1794; New Hampshire, June 16, 1794; Massachusetts, June 26, 1794; Vermont, between October 9, 1794 and November 9, 1794; Virginia, November 18, 1794; Georgia, November 29, 1794; Kentucky, December 7, 1794; Maryland, December 26, 1794; Delaware, January 23, 1795; North Carolina, February 7, 1795.
Ratification was completed on February 7, 1795.
The amendment was subsequently ratified by South Carolina on December 4, 1797. New Jersey and Pennsylvania did not take action on the amendment.
Senator Clinton:
I'm writing in hopes that you demonstrably oppose the view of the Bush administration regarding preemptive military invasion of Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries not yet specified by the United States. This administration is unrepresentative of 59% of U.S. citizens and continues to behave belligerently toward foreign nations, friends and foes alike. This is reckless policy and dangerous to every U.S. citizen, putting all at risk and jeopardizing the health of nations. The reactionary voices of statist neoconservatives are everywhere to be heard beating the drums of war, yet where is the opposition? When you spoke of a vast right-wing conspiracy, I was one of a tiny fraction in the minority opinion who desperately agreed with you, because the fact that it exists is undeniable and continues unabated and unopposed by the very group of senators and congresspeople whose political viability is most at stake. Should you remain neutral or worse, go along with the Republicans on the issue of American foreign policy with regard to preemptive military invasions and the preplanned ousting of foreign leaders for purposes that remain evasive, unclear, and disingenuous, you will no longer have my support should you decide to continue your political career. I voted for you once, but this is a crucial matter of international interest, and your voice must be heard. You must take a stance, and I fervently hope that you and your colleagues in the Senate say no to the president and an administration that is stridently leading us down a military path from which we may never recover. The repercussions of such ill-considered unilateralism are profound and terrifying to contemplate. The administation is doing its cynical best to fan the flames of fear, to keep every American as frightened as possible so that it can be given carte blanche to do as it will. This must end. We are a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law and not of men. The administration has flouted the Constitution in the name of national security and assaulted the Freedom of Information Act, to say nothing of the First and Fourth Amendments. The Rehnquist Court is busy gutting the 11th Amendment, which is ironic when you consider what happened in Florida regarding the 2000 election. These reactionary forces must be opposed, not appeased, before they bring misery and destruction to everyone everywhere. I count on you and appeal to you to stand against such cruel, unjust intent. If you raise your voice, others will follow. We are legion.EDITORIAL OBSERVER
Psst...Justice Scalia...You Know, You're an Activist Judge, Too
By ADAM COHEN
Published: April 19, 2005
Not since the 1960's, when federal judges in the South were threatened by cross burnings and firebombs, have judges been so besieged. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, set off a furor when he said judges could be inviting physical attacks with controversial decisions. And last week the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, called for an investigation of the federal judges in the Terri Schiavo case, saying ominously: "We set up the courts. We can unset the courts."
Conservatives claim that they are rising up against "activist judges," who decide cases based on their personal beliefs rather than the law. They frequently point to Justice Antonin Scalia as a model of honest, "strict constructionist" judging. And Justice Scalia has eagerly embraced the hero's role. Last month, after the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty for those under 18, he lashed out at his colleagues for using the idea of a "living Constitution" that evolves over time to hand down political decisions - something he says he would never do.
The idea that liberal judges are advocates and partisans while judges like Justice Scalia are not is being touted everywhere these days, and it is pure myth. Justice Scalia has been more than willing to ignore the Constitution's plain language, and he has a knack for coming out on the conservative side in cases with an ideological bent. The conservative partisans leading the war on activist judges are just as inconsistent: they like judicial activism just fine when it advances their own agendas.
Justice Scalia's views on federalism - which now generally command a majority on the Supreme Court - are perhaps the clearest example of the problem with the conservative attack on judicial activism. When conservatives complain about activist judges, they talk about gay marriage and defendants' rights. But they do not mention the 11th Amendment, which has been twisted beyond its own plain words into a states' rights weapon to throw minorities, women and the disabled out of federal court.
The 11th Amendment says federal courts cannot hear lawsuits against a state brought by "Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." But it's been interpreted to block suits by a state's own citizens - something it clearly does not say. How to get around the Constitution's express words? In a 1991 decision, Justice Scalia wrote that "despite the narrowness of its terms," the 11th Amendment has been understood by the court "to stand not so much for what it says, but for the presupposition of our constitutional structure which it confirms." If another judge used that rationale to find rights in the Constitution - in this case, rights for states - Justice Scalia's reaction would be withering. He went on, in that 1991 decision, to throw out a suit by Indian tribes who said they had been cheated by the State of Alaska.
Conservative politicians insist that courts should defer to the democratically elected branches, but conservative judges do not seem to be listening. The Supreme Court's conservative majority regularly overturns laws passed by Congress, like the Violence Against Women Act and the Gun-Free School Zones Act. The court has even established a bizarre series of hoops Congress must jump through to pass a law protecting Americans' 14th Amendment equal-protection rights. Congress must prove in many cases that the law it passed is "congruent" and "proportional" to the harm being addressed. Even John Noonan Jr., an appeals court judge appointed by President Reagan, has said these new rules - which Justice Scalia eagerly embraces - reduce Congress to the level of an "administrative agency."
Justice Scalia likes to boast that he follows his strict-constructionist philosophy wherever it leads, even if it leads to results he disagrees with. But it is uncanny how often it leads him just where he already wanted to go. In his view, the 14th Amendment prohibits Michigan from using affirmative action in college admissions, but lets Texas make gay sex a crime. (The Supreme Court has held just the opposite.) He is dismissive when inmates invoke the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment to challenge prison conditions. But he is supportive when wealthy people try to expand the "takings clause" to block the government from regulating their property.
The inconsistency of the conservative war on judges was apparent in the Terri Schiavo ordeal. Mr. DeLay, an outspoken critic of activist courts, does not want to investigate the federal trial judge and the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit for judicial activism, but for the opposite: for refusing to overturn the Florida state courts' legal decisions, and Michael Schiavo's decisions about his wife's medical care.
The classic example of conservative inconsistency remains Bush v. Gore. Not only did the court's conservative bloc trample on the Florida state courts and stop the vote counting - it declared its ruling would not be a precedent for future cases. How does Justice Scalia explain that decision? In a recent New Yorker profile, he is quoted as saying, with startling candor, that "the only issue was whether we should put an end to it, after three weeks of looking like a fool in the eyes of the world." That, of course, isn't a constitutional argument - it is an unapologetic defense of judicial activism.
When it comes to judicial activism, conservative judges are no better than liberal ones - and, it must be said, no worse. If conservatives are going to continue their war on the judiciary, though, they should be honest. They do not want to get rid of judicial activists, a standard that would bring down even Justice Scalia. They want to rid the courts of judges who disagree with them.
Get outta my way. Here's justice, at the business end of my gun. And screw the 11th Amendment, we're going duck hunting.
- Michael 8:14 AM - [PermaLink] -
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A Letter
Here's a letter I wrote to my friend:
INVISIBLE HISTORY
Gall in the olden soon thereafter
Leisurely we lied;
For all the boors, with little skills,
By meaner arms are plied,
While levered hands make vain pretense
Our wonderings about why.
Ah, crude Three! So well in power,
No ifs nor ands nor buts nor whethers,
To stretch a tale, bequeath the lie
To outrage fundamental feathers!
Yet what can one unalienable right
Mean to all their tongues together?
Imperious Rehnquist flashes forth
His edict "to begin it":
In gentler tones O’Connor hopes
"There will be nonsense in it!"
While Scalia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.
A non, an elder's sudden Son,
His fancies he pursues
The scion moving through a land
Of plunder for the few,
With threats unfriendly, east and west
Without a why or where or who.
End never, as the story drains
Wells of riches dry,
And saintly Rove, that dreary one
Whose subject is the lie --
"The rest next time --" "No more next time!"
Unhappy voices cry.
Thus grew the tale of Slumberland:
Thus lowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were tortured out --
And with the truth, undone,
Made fear our home, while wealthy crews
Set beneath the betting Son.
Fallacy! a child's story fake
Unreason's rulings stand
To forge a mythic history
In Memory's far-off land
And wither Truth, a hostage rose
Plucked by a savage hand.
I wanted this to raise a smile, but it achieves the opposite. When I get to the end of this, I frown. It's too true, and horrible, and unacceptable however you look at it.
I can't even make fun anymore.
I want to fill this letter with brilliant describings, but all I have to show for it is empty pockets. We are bereft, as people. I know that's melodramatic, but it has the added value of being true. We are bankrupt, morally, politically, spiritually. We have zero to offer. We squandered every fucking thing that made us exceptional in the eyes of the world. We're no better than a poison snake. And just as mean. Forget romanticizing America; that country died, years ago. We're no better than a fuckhead. The sooner we accept that, the better. Screw anybody who says otherwise.
I'm not preaching to you. I know your mind, and you feel like I do. Lies suck. The whole premise is a foundation of falsehood. A handful of greedy men are enriching themselves, period. That's it. No more to the dreadful story. Hundreds of thousands die -- roasted to death -- while greedy men drink their blood and dine on entrails. Bush is doing it in the name of God, which curses us into forever. The world hates our guts, because we spat in its face and laughed. We are going down, mark my words.
I'm trying to take a humorous approach, but I can't muster humor. Everywhere I look I see seething hatred. It's all I can do not to hate everybody back. I don't. As of right this second, I don't hate anybody. If I did, I'd wish that person dead. And my wishes come true, so I must be careful about this karma. Wendy's always telling me. I've wished more people dead than I care to admit. One of them was by accident. I believe this has a way of coming back. The old karmic tit for tat.
I wish I could open up my brain to you, but I simply can't. My thoughts are locked into one another in one gigantic parade, to a company of one. My feelings move through me like light through a prism. It's over as soon as it flashes. Life is water slipping through drippy fingers. I'm not angry, I'm outraged. There's a difference.
Writing helps, but it's stylized. You can't avoid the pose. Whatever you say, however you say it, is a pose. Whether you want it or not. Words are clothes.
M.
- Michael 4:31 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Continuing Bush's tradition of the always hiring the worst man for the job.
Bolton Often Blocked Information, Officials SayJohn R. Bolton -- who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and, on one occasion, his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S. strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have worked with Bolton.It looks like Bolton likes to hide the truth. No wonder he fits in so well with Bush.
In some cases, career officials found back channels to Powell or his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, who encouraged assistant secretaries to bring information directly to him. In other cases, the information was delayed for weeks or simply did not get through. The officials, who would discuss the incidents only on the condition of anonymity because some continue to deal with Bolton on other issues, cited a dozen examples of memos or information that Bolton refused to forward during his four years as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.
- rob 12:06 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Via Atrios I believe
New Scientist Will cancer vaccine get to all women?DEATHS from cervical cancer could jump fourfold to a million a year by 2050, mainly in developing countries. This could be prevented by soon-to-be-approved vaccines against the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer - but there are signs that opposition to the vaccines might lead to many preventable deaths.To sum up those who are part of the culture of life would rather some women die then even remotely raise the possibility that some women may have premarital sex.
The trouble is that the human papilloma virus (HPV) is sexually transmitted. So to prevent infection, girls will have to be vaccinated before they become sexually active, which could be a problem in many countries.
In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.
"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.
Wishing is more important than truth to these people. They wish Abstinence programs would reduce teenage sex, despite studies that show areas where abstinence only programs are taught have higher rates of STDs and teen pregnancies. But hey, if just one sperm is saved I guess that it is all worth it.
Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great,
If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.
Let the heathen spill theirs, on the dusty ground,
God shall make them pay for each sperm that can't be found
Every sperm is wanted, every sperm is good,
Every sperm is needed in your neighbourhood.
- Monty Python - Every sperm is sacred
I actually feel teaching the benefits of abstinence to teens is a fine idea (i.e. many teens who do have sex are not emotionally ready for it) but teaching it without also teaching about contraceptives while may not be encouraging sex, it is "encouraging" teen motherhood and illness.
- rob 12:03 PM - [PermaLink] -
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No News Is Good News - Bush Style
Witholding infromation is a Bush hallmark.
It is in his nature. He never told his daughters about his drunk driving arrest because he thought the truth would cause them to drink (well that worked out).
The truth isn't something Bush feels comfortable with.
KR Washington Bureau | 04/15/2005 | Bush administration eliminating 19-year-old international terrorism reportWASHINGTON - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.
Check out this post on Sirotablog for more detaile on the history of Bush's aversion for the truth.
Bush: Bad Data Means Stop Publishing- When unemployment was peaking in Bush's first term, the White House tried to stop publishing the Labor Department's regular report on mass layoffs.
- In 2003, when the nation's governors came to Washington to complain about inadequate federal funding for the states, the Bush administration decided to stop publishing the budget report that states use to see what money they are, or aren't, getting.
- In 2003, the National Council for Research on Women found that information about discrimination against women has gone missing from government Web sites, including 25 reports from the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau.
- In 2002, Democrats uncovered evidence that the Bush administration was removing health information from government websites. Specifically, the administration deleted data showing that abortion does not increase the risk of breast cancer. That scientific data was seen by the White House as a direct affront to the pro-life movement.
- rob 11:51 AM - [PermaLink] -
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As of 10:50 am the randow TCS prediction seems wrong.
Yay!
Stocks mixed as worst of selling seems over -- for now
- rob 11:06 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Clark is running in '08
Really really big quicktime movie of Clark's speech
- rob 11:02 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Random TCS prediction... this is not going to be a good day on Wall Street.
Not at all.
Of course, we love to be wrong here at TCS. Read below (or anywhere in the archives) for many posts in which we hope we are wrong.
- rob 9:40 AM - [PermaLink] -
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