Message to Racicot

No one, not even women, can be required to die on behalf of a fetus.


Carl didn't say it, but you are starting to betray just how UGLY you are. Yuck!

Goodbye Ronnie

I understand that you lost your husband a long time ago and that it is only official today.

I have watched people go through this before so I think that I can understand some of the feelings you might be having right now.

God bless you Nancy, you showed a lot of class and strength.

Denny

Hi Denny,

We wonder how you, as the sole Representative of the great state of Montana will answer this question.

Is there ANY crime, any crime at all, that you aren't willing to overlook to put the interests of your party before the interests of your country, or will you get behind an impeachment proceeding soon?

It's the economy stupid

Gosh, the economy is just great. Isn't it?

I hear lots of gushing on NPR and CNN about all those new jobs and how fast the economy is growing. and isn't the unemployment rate down to 5.6% ?

Things are just so gosh darned good that the feds are expected to raise the interest rates next month.

Let's not forget that gas prices are expected to fall really soon.

Meanwhile here in Montana, construction that has gang banging for years now has plunged over the cliff. It is nearly impossible to go anywhere without running into major construction projects, and yet there was a poll in todays Great Falls Tribune

Is your confidence in the economy increasing?

Yes 42.4%
No 57.6%



I do not understand who is going to pay

for all of the major infrastructure expansions that are going on here.

Maybe we can just close some more schools.

What was I thinking

I wrote about waiting for the slippery one to mess up the thing that I thought he was doing well.

Well just how silly was I?

Susan points out that this one was already blown out of the water before it was even launched.

That's it. Even when you think that you are ready to wait and see if they are going to do what they say, they have already sent one sliding right past you.

Slippery all right.

REMINDER

September 11 was a Hijacking. The heart of our military and financial institutions were attacked.

There was a systematic failure to mitigate damages on each and every level of our govermnent.

Why is that so hard to remember?

why does it say to report to Bush?

Feeling the draft yet?

28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan - fiscal year 2004.

snip

Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.

Everybody talks about what a fiasco Irac is. I disagree. It seems to be going according to their plan, the worse it is the more lives and dollars they get to waste. If anyone ever cared about getting it right, the appointees would have been competent, experienced, and would not have been involved with prior human rights violations.

SLIPPERY

At least this this Republican gets how slippery the Bush administration is.

It all hinges on the word may

But there is no mention of the illegally diverted $700 million dollars from previous authorizations in this story.

I wonder why?

SO THE SYSTEM WORKS

Jose Padilla has been allowed to see his lawyer!

BLITZER: Some of these questions are now before the U.S. Supreme Court, as you well know, Donna Newman. What is your suspicion why this information is being made public today?

NEWMAN: I don't speculate on government's motives. I leave that to the press to do. But one only has to look at the history in this case to understand that whenever the government has felt pressure, that what they are doing in their strategy in terrorism, they come forth to help themselves.

For example, they would not let me see Mr. Padilla or my co-counsel ... see Mr. Padilla. And then when they had to file their Supreme Court brief, all of a sudden they said, for some strange reason national security is not a problem and you can see him.

So every step of the way, the history of this case demonstrates when the government has been pushed against the wall they come forth with something. This, however, while they say it is very damning, it sounds so much like an opening statement that it's really surprising that Mr. Comey has said it in this way.

snip

But we all know that admissions, in fact, lately we have found from prisoners, it has been all over the news, that their admissions have been under coercion. I'm not saying that's here. I don't know. And that's the problem in this case. The counsel has been kept in the dark, the counsel has not been told of the facts, the counsel has not been allowed to really have full access to the client, and that the system is being tried to be turned up on his head.

(Fat chance on the press speculating on the government's motives.)

The Justice Department, under pressure to explain its indefinite detention of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant

snip!

Then there was the new release of a lot of "secret information" suddenly declassified we have all grown accustomed to.

The Supreme Court is deciding whether the war on terrorism gives the government power to seize Americans such as Padilla and hold them without charges for as long as it takes to ensure they are not a danger to United States. Comey denied the timing of the disclosure was an attempt to influence the court.

snip

Comey said release of the information had no connection to criticism from some members of Congress and some administration officials that Attorney General John Ashcroft overstated the al-Qaida threat.

snip

"We have decided to release this information to help people understand why we are doing what we are doing in the war on terror and to help people understand the nature of the threat we face," he said.

Yes, yes, you areunder threat of losing your multi-tiered legal system, the one that says the laws don't apply to those at the top because they are so good, they don't apply to "bad people" (the definition of bad people sure is slippery these days, don't ya think?) because they are so bad. We must keep the pressure on to restore the rule of law-the original ones, not the new improved, more creative kind- on our elected and selected officials.

Joe Drymala gives the government's case this smack down

Since you deprived him of his civil liberties in the first place, you've got to keep depriving him of his civil liberties because all the good info you got from him would be inadmissible because you got it by violating the Bill of Rights?

Back to the CNN interview

If Mr. Padilla is as dangerous as they say, why not simply have a trial and then the -- with a verdict and certainly the sentence which can be quite severe, such as life, and that's what he would be facing, if he were tried and he was convicted, he would not be a danger.

BLITZER: All right.

NEWMAN: So our system works. And they have to have confidence in it. I have confidence in it. I have seen it work. I believe in it. And I think -- people have told me that that makes me more patriotic. I believe that that makes us all patriotic because we believe that in the end justice will be done when the system is used properly, not when it has been evaded and avoided.

emphasis mine

755 Days

That Jose Padilla has been imprisoned without trial, charges, or representation. I wonder if the Red Cross has been able to visit him?

The courts have twice ruled that he should be allowed to meet with his attorney, and ordered him released last December. Why, oh why would our very own government work so hard to keep such a "small fish" detained like that? Why do they fear due process and threshold rights (fair elections, open and publicly accountable government, judicial review of executive action, the right of the accused to a public jury trial, separation of powers among the three branches of government, and the rights to free expression and free association)?

Does anybody remember what it was like when criminals were held accountable, not just held hostage?

On that note, Jump on over to Civil Liberties Watch to find out about the latest Patriot Act news.

Warning-you may feel the need to heave and/or shower when you glimpse the perversions they have foisted upon our beautiful constitution.

LATE NIGHT HATE RADIO

There is some right-wing bimbo blathering on about how tacky it was for Kerry to use Memorial day to put his foreign policy ideas forth, she was definitely not happy with the caller who pointed out that Kerry is a decorated war hero who understands what it is like to be under fire, and that he not has the right, but the experience to make those statements.

I wonder how much this has to do with them.

My favorite line?

"The last time I looked, except for Florida, an election is an election," Kerry said.

Old stiff legs

Yes, I saw him place a wreath today, what I want to know is how a man that gets hours of exercise every day can be so stiff and ungraceful. I do not care how good his suits are, he just looks like he is out of his league.

For the record, I do not think that he looked one bit sorry that he sent those people to die and be permanently maimed. He probably still "feels fist pumping good", but Saddaam is gone, right?

So we must ask ourselves:

How many human lives are a proper price to pay for the removal of Saddam Hussein?

Would you say removing Hussein would be worth it if a million people — Americans and Iraqis — had to die to achieve it?

If the answer is no, let's try a lower price. How about 100,000?

If that's too many, how about 10,000 lives being snuffed out to remove one man from power?

The Relevant Question

Let's make is simpler. Rather than throwing numbers around, let's ask just one question:

Would removing Hussein be worth it if the cost were just one human life — but that life was yours?

Would you be willing to die to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq?

If the answer is no, then anything you have to say about the world being a better place now — about collateral damage — about the glory of soldiers sacrificing their lives for their country — is meaningless. You're not willing to pay the price. You're like so many people who believe various government programs are wonderful — provided someone else pays for them.

Everyone who has died so far in Iraq had a life that meant as much to him as your life means to you. But now that life is gone, done, finished, nevermore.

By supporting the war in Iraq, you have supported the idea that it's okay to kill people — other people.

But until you're willing to volunteer to be one of those killed, your words don't carry any weight.

via lefti via Atrios

Dust and trojan horses

After months of looking for something to like about the way W. practices his presidency, I think that I have found a couple. There were times that I was solidly behind him, and many more times that I've heard him on the radio and thought "that doesn't sound too bad", or even "that sounds good", but I have been let down time and again when it was all dust or trojan horses.

I am just going to remember what the blogsphere has given credit for today and set it all aside while I hope that I don't get fooled again.