tagged w/ American Politics
-
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
When we vote today, there will be many by our side we cannot see, but they will be watching us. Some will have front row seats but, for the most part, history is standing room only.
Walt Whitman once wrote that for all we know he may be looking over our shoulders now, and he may be right. If we're especially quiet, we may hear the urgent whispers of gratitude from Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and the good grey poet himself, as well as everyone who marched in Alabama, and who gave their lives for the cause of civil rights.
We know, too, that off in the distance are Arthur Miller, Paul Newman and Studs Terkel, as well as all those who stood up to Joe McCarthy, and the blacklisters.
Doing the right thing always costs more. Why that is, who can say, but it does. Rest assured that butchers sleep better than most of us. All too often, humankind has been most unkind. Nothing we do today will change that, but can only present the promise of change, and cast an urgent light on the transgressions of those who think that justice can be bought, and sold.
For too long, we have allowed ourselves to live in a land where opportunity is a commodity obtainable by some, and denied to most. Our actions, this November 4th, may just change that.
The Brahmin of supply-side economics have finally met their destiny in the dungheap that is the financial market.
More importantly, we are coming to see that the movement for world peace can never be separate from the movement for world prosperity. We are hoping Mr. Obama will fix that, but we must see to it that he does.
When we go to the polls today, we may also hear the urgent whispers of gratitude from the rest of the world. We can no longer afford to disappoint them.by Jayne Lyn Stahl
When we vote today, there will be many by our side we cannot... more
-
-
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
This morning, The London Times reports that the Obama team has already been talking about how to deal with post-partum depression following his historical victory, and right they are. The way things are stacking up, people are flocking to the polls thinking that they will elect a president who all buts walks on water.
The presidential hopeful is right to try to mitigate against any kind of emotional upheaval which may well result when people realize that the country, and the world, is so deeply immersed in this economic morass, socioeconomic disenfranchisement, racism, and religious intolerance that even Houdini would be hard pressed to step into the Oval Office, wave a wand, and make everything better.
After all, we're electing a mere mortal not a Greek god who will serve in our nation's capital, and not on Mt. Olympus.
Only those who are naive to the point of idiocy would believe that either McCain or Obama will have clean hands at the end of his first term. No one walks away from the battlefield with clean hands. The difference is that one candidate recognizes and respects the limitations of the presidency while the other will push for even more inflated power.
Apart from this, keep in mind that Obama not only studied constitutional law, he taught it, while a McCain presidency virtually guarantees continuing his predecessor's efforts to transform the Bill of Rights into the Bill of Frights.
More importantly, Obama is invested in having a second term which means he'll have to listen to the people who gave him the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue whereas McCain is a one trick pony.
If McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate indicates what his cabinet will look like, we should be scared, very scared if he manages to overcome the odds and prevail on Election Day. Rest assured, McCain/Palin will finish what Richard Nixon attempted, and Bush/Cheney came close to finishing---nothing short of the complete subversion of democratic principles that distinguished us from a monarchy, or a totalitarian state.
While only the most egregiously naive wouldn't acknowledge that both candidates have been "corporatized," and are knee-deep in special interests, only one candidate knows what it's like to watch his mother have to fight to keep her insurance.
That said, anybody who expects Obama to be a miracle worker will be disappointed to find, after Inauguration Day, that they may have to accept not only his fallibility, but their own, and that his power is inextricably tied to their investment in him. Isn't that what the framers had in mind when, as Jefferson asserts, they fled from tyranny? Didn't they demand not only transparency, but that the doors, and windows, of government would be open? We may expect no less from the senator from Illinois should he prevail on Tuesday.
Should Obama win, we may also look forward to a presidency that will force us, at long last, to take a long hard look at the racial divide, and the unequal opportunity for young people of color in a country where more African-American youngsters are in our nation's prisons than universities...
(pls. see link for rest of article)
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
This morning, The London Times reports that the Obama team has... more
-
-
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama didn't know his aunt might be living illegally in the United States, as media outlets are reporting, and his campaign will return contributions she made, an aide said Saturday.
"Sen. Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws [should] be followed," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.
According to The Associated Press, a court refused four years ago to accept the asylum application of Zeituni Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Obama's Kenyan father. However, she has continued to live in a public housing complex in South Boston, AP reported.
Onyango's refusal to leave the country would be an administrative violation, not a criminal matter.
CNN has not been able to independently verify her immigration status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the agency "is prohibited from commenting on any individual's status."
Democratic U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan fired off a letter asking Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to investigate whether someone leaked the information to the media in an effort to damage Obama.
"The AP reports that it 'could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved,' a very disturbing (suggestion) indeed," read the letter from Conyers, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
"This leak is deplorable and I urge you to take immediate action to investigate and discipline those responsible."
The Department of Homeland Security had no immediate response to the letter.
The Obama campaign did not indicate whether Obama has been in touch with his aunt, whom he describes in his book "Dreams from My Father."
The Boston Housing Authority did not return calls or an e-mail from CNN on Saturday.
No one answered calls Saturday to a phone number listed under Onyango's name.
In his book, Obama writes of meeting his aunt when he visited Kenya as a young man.
"A tall, brown-skinned woman was smiling beside us, and Auma [Obama's half-sister] turned and said, 'Barack, this is Auntie Zeituni. Our father's sister," Obama wrote.
"'Welcome home,' Zeituni said, kissing me on both cheeks."
It is not clear when Onyango arrived in the United States.
She told the London Times that she travels back and forth between the United States and Kenya.
"I have been coming to America ever since 1975. I always come and go," the Times quoted her as saying.
Federal campaign finance records indicate Onyango contributed at least $65 to Obama's campaign in July and September, in $5 and $25 increments. Obama spokesman Burton said the campaign has identified $265 in contributions from Onyango, including those not yet reflected in federal filings, and plans to return the funds.
The gifts would appear to violate federal campaign finance law, which prohibits political donations by non-U.S. citizens.
"The responsibility is the campaign's to ensure the funds they receive are from permissible sources in appropriate amounts," Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, told The Times of London.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Ok, I still have to know, how relevant is this to anything? What do you all think of this story?
~MariposaWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama didn't know his aunt might be living... more
-
-
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
On my way to work in the morning, for the past few weeks, I've amused myself by keeping track of McCain and Obama bumper stickers in a nearby parking lot. I was conducting my own informal poll.
Until today, I'd seen only one bumper sticker on a Volvo, and it was for McCain.
Thrilled to report now, four days before the election, there are many more bumper stickers, and Obama outnumbers McCain 3-1!by Jayne Lyn Stahl
On my way to work in the morning, for the past few weeks,... more
-
-
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
The race is very close, but Obama's lead is consistent! As long as he maintains a steady lead, however small, the White House is his.
Remember, in the 1960 election, JFK won 49.7% of the vote, and Nixon got 49.6% of the vote, hence Kennedy won the popular vote by 1/10 of 1%. With regard to the electoral college, in 1960, it was JFK--303 to Richard Nixon--219. Obviously, the electoral college map will be what clinches this election. Pennsylvania is the crucial state to watch, as is pretty evident.
But, apart from the math which would be daunting to JFK were he to be subjected to the same trial by mainstream media, efforts at disenfranchisement, and voter nullification, is the fatalism with which many approach not merely the polls, but the underlying premise of race, or religion, as a disqualifier.
Think we've come a long way since 1960? Well, think again. If a Muslim or Jew were to run for president, he or she would face the same bigotry Kennedy did back in 1960---so much for the information superhighway, and evolution. So much for intelligent design, too. Only a sadist would allow anything it created to remain stupid for this long.
As for JFK, he knew he had an uphill battle because he was a Catholic, but he was confident that, in the end, his religion would not stand in the way of his election to the highest office of the land. Can we assure the next generation of presidents of this?
If we've learned nothing else from the ugliness of this election, religious intolerance, and bigotry, in this country, is as much a part of the equation as race.
Just as the Constitution holds that there can be no religious test for office, there can be no racial test, either.
Thomas Jefferson, who once said "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies," was right about something else, too. "The constitutional freedom of religion [is] the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights" as he told the Virginia Board of Visitors back in 1819.
John McCain's concept of a "Christian nation" is almost as reactionary as his running mate's feigned red scares. Palin may be proud she can handle a polysyllable like "socialist" without screwing it up, but the rest of the world is terrified to think that she may have any input, at all, in shaping our foreign policy, and we should be, too.
Obama will prevail---not by much. He'll get the electoral college majority, and do slightly better than JFK on the popular vote. As long as he maintains a consistent lead, victory will be his on election day.
But, to the victors go the spoils. It will be up to Obama to work with Congress, and the Supreme Court, to take the Bill of Rights off life support, affirm the separation of church and state, and immunize the Almighty from charges of corrupting the morals of a country by taking us to war.
Ultimately, too, it's up to the next president to show that, in the final analysis, the White House belongs to us!By Jayne Lyn Stahl
The race is very close, but Obama's lead is consistent!... more
-
-
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
In the last gasp of their campaign for the presidency, and to save their stranglehood on Congress, the controlling fringe of the Republican party has been practicing the kind of triage we haven't seen since World War I with McCain/Palin working their way around the country turning embattled red states into so many wounded soldiers to be sorted out for treatment based on medical necessity.
But if the way John McCain has waged his campaign for the White House is any indication of how he would wage war, you can bet we'll spend another 100 years in Iraq.
And, while I sat transfixed earlier today watching footage of a television anchorwoman in Orlando, Florida quote Marx to Joe Biden, insisting that the quote provides further evidence that Obama is a "socialist," it was hard to forget which party gave us progressive income taxes, as well as the earned income credit.
It is hard to forget, too, whose idea it was to nationalize the banks, which party has given us record deficits, and the greatest income disparity since the 1920's. It's hard to imagine a candidate who probably thinks Karl Marx is "the one with the curly hair" twisting Economics 101 such that Obama is the one who raises taxes, not McCain.
Well, read my lips----if elected, John McCain will raise taxes, and not on the folks earning more than $250,000 a year, like Obama plans to do, but on the 98% who make less.
Somehow, I suspect that suggesting to Sarah Palin that she bone up on economic theory would be like telling Napoleon to take a water pill.
But, make no mistake, the Republican party has it all wrong this year if they think that they can win the White House, and the Senate race, by triage in key states. It is the issues that they need to triage, not the states. It is the values that folks like John McCain are running on that are in are in need of urgent care---the illusion that the former prisoner of war's policies will ensure that returning veterans will be better off in four years from now than they are today; the illusion that his sidekick, the Alaska governor, is a proponent of ethics reform, and a maverick.
Palin's attempts to usurp her power as governor to fire her brother-in-law were in violation of law, and ethics. Charging the state of Alaska for five days in a New York hotel for her daughters when she attended a four hour conference isn't my idea of ethics reform.
Tell me, what kind of maverick suggests that her opposition is a socialist, un-American, and consorts with "domestic terrorists?" If that kind of rhetoric qualifies one to be a "maverick," then Joe McCarthy got there first. More importantly, with this kind of fear and hate-mongering, is it any surprise that the feds stopped today what was the third plot to assassinate Barack Obama ?
So, what needs triage here? The red states that are hanging in balance for McCain, or the ugly truth that race is still a four letter word in America, and the one that is insulating itself with terms like "socialist," and "un-American." Yes, we not only have racism, in this country, we have career racism. We have people who have devoted their lives to seeing to it that diversity is something that happens behind closed doors.
(Please see link for remainder of article)by Jayne Lyn Stahl
In the last gasp of their campaign for the presidency, and to... more
-
-
Yeah, they are definitely not makin' it to the White House. I don't know what it is, but when I see this speech, I do not see the kind of character I would like for the leader of this country.Yeah, they are definitely not makin' it to the White House. I don't know... more
-
-
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Don't expect the earth to move on the morning of November 5th if, as we hope, Barack Obama wins this election, unless you happen to live in Northern California where it's been moving a lot lately. The work begins with his election, and doesn't end there.
An Obama win will mark the beginning, not the end, of the work that needs to be done. Undoing the damage of the Bush administration will not only take time, but resolve.
The election has managed to provide cover for Mr. Bush, and eclipse an outcry after revelations, by The Washington Post, more than a week ago, that his administration issued a pair of classified memos to the CIA, in 2003 and 2004, that "explicitly endorsed" so-called enhanced alternative interrogation techniques.
The officials who divulged the fact that the Bush administration gave the green light to torture came forward anonymously, and said that their primary reason for talking now is to avoid ramifications, and allegations that they took it into their own hands to waterboard detainees, and use other interrogation methods traditionally considered torture.
As these memos still remain classified, the agents, in question, want to come clean now before they are made public to insist that they had "top cover," that is, to insist that the executive branch signed off on their activities, and would immunize their actions.
The CIA has done nothing less than provide proof that this administration lied to the American people when it said "we do not torture." And, it is up to us, each and every one of us going to the polls on November 4th, to see to it that no president again gets to provide "top cover" to actions by our intelligence agencies and military that are in direct violation of Geneva and international law.
It is up to us to ensure an end to the practice of classifying, and declassifying, information to avoid prosecution, an end to abuse of signing statements, national security letters, and turning law enforcement into terror specialists. The practice of breaking the law then making it law, which has shattered our moral credibility both at home and abroad, must stop.
(pls. see link for rest of article)
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Don't expect the earth to move on the morning of November... more
-
-
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Cries of "he's a socialist, he's a socialist" rang out in the crowd today at a John McCain rally. My father once said that everything is cyclical. Even my father couldn't have predicted the fear-trotting, and sophistry, that is the radical right.
Somebody coached Sarah Palin to think that by invoking red fright the unprecedented number of red states leaning towards Obama will, once again, come to their senses. Fear is their life raft. They are invoking the days when government routinely stuck its head not only into our bedrooms, but into our political activities.
And, if Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann gets her way, the House Un-American Activities Committee will be born again, along with Stalinist purges.
Whatever remains of the moderate wing of the Republican party is now a fringe group, eclipsed by Mrs. Rapture Dude. That was Colin Powell's message on "Meet the Press." Yes, yes, he endorses Barack Obama, but, importantly, Powell is disgusted to see that thanks to the neo-conservatives of his party moderates have gone the way of the middle class.
By throwing his hat, along with his running mate's $150,000 pair of boxing gloves, into the ring, McCain's campaign proves one thing, and one thing only: even ignorance can be recycled.
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Cries of "he's a socialist, he's a... more
-
-
by David Cay Johnston
David Cay Johnston writes that reporters haven’t sufficiently explored Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden’s relationship with banks, despite his going into ever more debt as he ages, his reliance on the banking industry for contributions, and his actions on their behalf in the 2005 bankruptcy law and other legislation.
Senator Joseph Biden’s lakeside home on four acres in a Delaware suburb is his largest asset, worth as much as $3 million. During 35 years in the Senate he has taken out or refinanced more than three dozen loans, most using this home as collateral, with banks in Delaware. Reporters have asked virtually no questions about the senator’s involvement with the banking industry, which benefits from federal laws that enhance the value of Delaware’s state laws that heavily favor banks over borrowers.
1. You pay about $38,700 in mortgage interest annually, more than 15 percent of your annual income from the Senate, your teaching position and your wife’s job. Is that prudent, for a man of your age, 66? You’re in the top 2 percent income group. What does it tell us about your ability to handle your own finances that as you grow older your debt level rises significantly? Why have you saved so little despite your substantial income?
2. What does this reliance on borrowing tell us about your views on government debt, which during your years in Washington has grown by a factor of 30 and will soon reach $10 trillion? What does it tell us about your sense of responsibility to future generations of Americans, who will inherit this burden?
3. You bought your former home for $185,000 in 1975 and sold it in 1996 for $1.2 million, a price that your opponents called inflated. Does the fact that the purchaser was an executive of MBNA, the big credit card issuer that relied heavily on subtle changes in law to fuel its growth, give you any concerns about the propriety of this deal, especially given that your brother sold his home for $1.3 million to an executive of the Advanta credit card bank? If not, explain the reasons you do not believe others should question the propriety of this sale (other than the appraisal used to justify the new owner's mortgage).
4. You've criticized Senator John McCain for rewarding banks, while you voted for the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act that gave credit card issuers, notably at the time MBNA, much greater power to pursue collection from Americans who go broke even it was through no fault of their own, such as accident, illness or layoff. How is your conduct different from that which you attribute to Senator McCain?
Iplease see link for the rest of this article)
by David Cay Johnston
David Cay Johnston writes that reporters haven’t... more
-
-
WASHINGTON — The campaign to elect a new president and members of Congress is on pace to hit an unprecedented $5.3 billion, the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics said Wednesday.
The money raised and spent by candidates, parties and outside groups on campaigning, advertising, conventions and other political activities in this election has shattered records.
But the total, while an eye-popping figure, pales compared with other spending. For example, it's less than the nearly $6 billion the National Retail Federation estimates Americans will shell out for Halloween next week.
The cost of the presidential race alone — a record $2.4 billion — is less than the $2.6 billion Coca-Cola spent on advertising in 2006. The old record for White House campaign spending was $1.6 billion, set in 2004.
"This is a relatively small investment when you consider all the things that are far less important but on which we spend far more money," said Sheila Krumholz, the center's executive director. "But in terms of political finance, these numbers are staggering."WASHINGTON — The campaign to elect a new president and members of Congress is on... more
-
-
By David Cay Johnston
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal finances, and those of the city and state that she has run, have received little scrutiny from reporters, writes David Cay Johnston. Obvious issues have not been examined, including two items on her 2006 and 2007 tax returns that suggest the Palins cheated on their federal income taxes.
1. What are the reasons that you only released your tax returns for 2006 and 2007 -- and not from your years as the paid mayor of Wasilla?
2. How did your family build up more than $1 million in assets, given that as mayor you made $64,000 and your 2006 and 2007 income tax returns show that you and your husband together earned $128,000 in 2006 and $166,000 in 2007?
3. How did you finance the construction of your home, which you value at a half million dollars?
4. Will you show us the invoices from the contractors who built your home and copies of the front and back of the checks with which you paid them?
5. While you were running for state-wide office, your husband told Fox News, he "built" the home with his "contractor buddies." Will you make available your husband's travel records during the campaign?
6. How many hours between the start and completion of construction did your husband spend in physical labor such as pounding nails and fitting pipes while he "built" your home?
7. As governor you charged taxpayers for travel by your children, so as vice president would you also expect their travel expenses to be paid by taxpayers and, if so, what is your rationale?
8. Since you did not report these travel funds on your tax return as income, which a number of tax experts say is required, what is your rationale for this? And have you checked, since the release of your tax returns revealed this, whether you made the proper decision and, if so, with whom did you check? If you did check with a tax advisor will you authorize them to speak about this matter?
(please see link to read the entire article by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Cay Johnston)
By David Cay Johnston
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's... more
-
-
Putting the country first and matters at hand, McPhantom will continue to serve the country using nothing but straight talk and the methods he employed during his vetting process. The video below shows his watchful eye for Sarah Palin. At the end he practically chases her for a kiss and hug.
http://blueherald.com/2008/08/mccains-wandering-eyes/Putting the country first and matters at hand, McPhantom will continue to serve the... more
-
-
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Since Sarah Palin has been doing such a stand-up job, no pun intended, of distinguishing her platform from that of John McCain when it comes to ANWAR, and her latest plan to endorse a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, she might as well follow Dick Cheney's example, and secede from the executive branch.
Why not secede altogether before you're even in the executive branch? How's that for the Palin doctrine of preemption. Remember the days when vice presidents were supposed to quietly connive behind their bosses backs like the puppet masters instead of brazenly stealing their thunder?
It might look to some like Sarah Palin is Dick Cheney on steroids. Somebody ought to tell her that it's okay to play contrarian with a running mate, but it will be considered insubordination when he's your boss. Guess it's not called insubordination when Sarah Palin does it.
Sarah Palin is so good at striking out on her own that she might as well start her own party, or maybe even her own country? Best not to give her any more ideas. She has more than she can handle right now.By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Since Sarah Palin has been doing such a stand-up job, no pun... more
-
-
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
Republicans are right to focus on college professor, and former 1960's radical, Bill Ayers, and not on the nation's disintegrating economy, but rest assured that their dangerous game of bait and switch will backfire just as their vice presidential nominee has.
Whether he's channeling Joe the Plumber or Joe McCarthy, John McCain is simply not the right man for the job, and neither is Sarah Palin.
This last ditch desperate emphasis on Bill Ayers is, in the best sense of the word perverse, and will do nothing to deflect attention away from the wrenching fact that only those in Bel Air will benefit from McCain's tax cuts.by Jayne Lyn Stahl
Republicans are right to focus on college professor, and former... more
-
-
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
The McCain camp's latest tactic is to insinuate that Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes only for people making over $250,000 "sounds a lot like socialism."
Fast rewind to ten days ago or so when McCain flew back to the Senate to vote in favor of the government bailout of Wall Street arguing only that legislators should change the name from bailout to "rescue."
Joe the Plumber's starring role was to woo the red states by implying that the Democrats are a bunch of Reds, and if there is any more mention of "socialist" from McCain, or his sidekick Palin, another Joe will have to be called back to active combat duty---Joe McCarthy!
Notably, the Republican nominee for president also endorses infusing $250 billion of the proposed $700 billion bailout money into the nation's troubled banks, and doesn't, for a moment, consider that "another government giveaway."
Economics 101 according to John McCain: raising taxes on those who are in the upper 2% of the population is "socialism;" nationalizing banks isn't.
Sen. McCain is right--rescue will be in order should we awake, November 5th, to find not just our military, but our economy in his inept hands.
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
The McCain camp's latest tactic is to insinuate that... more
-
-
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Dear Senator Obama:
You already know me to be a supporter of yours--not for weeks, or months, but for years. Today, arguably, on the eve of your most important presidential debate, please keep the following things in mind before your face-off with Senator McCain.
First and foremost, what distinguishes your campaign from that of your opponent's is that you see the world in three dimensions, and understand the importance of nuance. The world, to you, is not black or white, but gray. For a decade or more, indeed stretching back to the 1950's, this capacity would be viewed as a curse more than a gift.
Those of us for whom the economy has been the hot button issue throughout this Republican regime admire the facility with which you've not only grasped, but elevated the economic issue, but as Arianna Huffington, and others are suggesting, the next presidency will be decided not only economic issues alone, but on matters of national security, and it is this issue, principally, that requires your attention now.
If, as you say, a President must be able to do more than one thing at a time, we need you to focus on the bogus claims of McCain/Palin to be the patriots, and the ones who are better positioned to keep this country safe.
It simply isn't enough to prop Joe Biden up as the antidote to the reckless, and insubstantial claims of foreign policy inexperience, or ineptitude, brought against Obama by the McCain camp. The false logic that simply because one has spent decades as the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee one has the expertise to handle Al Qaeda is, in the end, not altogether different from John McCain's assertion that his experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam makes him better able to be commander-in-chief. It is ugent for Joe Biden to come up with a concrete vision for how he sees foreign policy will progress under President Obama...
(Pls. see link for rest of this article)
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Dear Senator Obama:
You already know me to be a supporter... more
-
-
Dear ABC,
Please reconsider this decision and air the Repower America ad this Friday on 20/20
I can't believe I need to remind you, ABC, are considered part of the "free press". Acting like a corporate puppet makes you appear un-American. Remember free (or paid for) speech is a right and ABC has a moral obligation to allow all POV's to be aired (if they have the dough). More than ever before people need to know they have "a truth sayer” in this country they can trust.
Dear ABC,
Please reconsider this decision and air the Repower America ad this... more
-
-
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
During the vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin couldn't resist showing off her knowledge of a new term: "domestic terrorist" any more than she could refrain from slapping that term onto those Barack Obama is said to have known 40 years ago.
Well, we have breaking news for Governor Palin, and any other candidate for elected office, now and in future. Those of us who were at Kent State, and others, like myself, who protested the war in Vietnam at universities in Buffalo, who staged sit-ins at administration buildings that included, but were not limited to, the likes of current Nobel Laureates like J.M. Coetzee, didn't think of ourselves as "domestic terrorists," but as citizens exercizing our constitutional right to dissent, a right which police in Maryland recently put on life supports when it classified more than 50 members of nonviolent protest groups as "terrorists" while listing not just their names, but all their personal data, into state and federal databanks.
As The Washington Post reported, a police superintendent, Terrence B. Sheridan, exposed the covert military action which placed not just those opposing the war in Iraq, but those opposing capital punishment, under surveillance from 2005 through 2006. Mr. Sheridan told the Senate that those 50 odd names have no place in Maryland police databases: "It's as simple as that."
Pity Joe McCarthy because nobody seems to have told him he's dead, or maybe he has better things to do than rest in peace, and is out haunting not just Maryland, but the US Patriot gangbangers who want to put dissent on perpetual hold...
(pls. see link for entire article)
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
During the vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin couldn't... more
-
-
Why don't you go to this link and read more about a tragic fact: Posse Comitatus has been a part of our national identity for almost 2 centuries and George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus. That means it’s now legal for the (army) military to patrol the streets of this country. A few thousand infantry fresh back from Iraq have been deployed in this country as of October 1st. The problem is there was a law enacted way back in our history to prevent the US military from being used against the American people. This law was rescinded by Bush as an after thought to a bill, its called a signature statement, or something like that.
My guess is our “dear leader” was preparing for lash-back for devastating our economy when he rescinded this liberty. Could it be? Taking it a step further, maybe ignoring the building economic storm and then suddenly declaring the sky is falling 30 days before an election might be more that a happenstance? You decide, go to this site for more info.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/101958/thousands_of_troops_are_deployed_on_u.s._streets_ready_to_carry_out_%22crowd_control%22/?page=2
Why don't you go to this link and read more about a tragic fact: Posse Comitatus... more
-
