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Chris Dodd, "Keeping Faith With Our Values"
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Senator Dodd's focus on how our Constitution, the framework of our government, has been eroded during the administration of George W. Bush has been a constant theme and, indeed, one of the prime motives for his candidacy.
While the video of the speech to the Iowa City Council on Foreign Relations runs to 48 minutes and takes a long time to load, even on high speed broad band, Dodd's speech is only seventeen minutes. It is, however, full of references to a number of individuals who have been on the front lines, protecting the Constitution, whose efforts probably deserve even more attention. So, I'll try to provide a few links.
Of course, almost everyone is familiar by now with the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld, in which Lt. Commander Charles Swift's argument on behalf of a detainee was successful in persuading the Court to find that the military commission process that had been set up violated the Constitution. What Senator Dodd didn't mention, but we should note, is that the Commander's career was cut short following that success and he was forced to retire. Esquire published his own account of his experience.
Dodd also references a quote from General George Marshall, which strikes me as particularly appropriate as we discuss our military and intelligence activities overseas. Not only should "respect for the reign of law follow the flag" but, as Lt. Gen. John Kimmins explained, torture doesn't even work. So, we're selling out our values for nothing.
It is worth referring to the Senator's statements on the floor of the Senate, when he urged a vote against the Military Commissions Act and again, more recently, in his opposition to the grant of immunity for unlawful behavior by the telecom corporations in the revised version of the FISA legislation. That he was not persuasive on the former and the latter is still hanging fire is not a credit to the United States Senate.
As Justice Jackson said at Nuremberg, “we must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our lips as well.” Mr. President, to rubber-stamp the Administration’s bill would poison one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy.
We are doing to ourselves what our enemies have not been able to achieve. That seems to be a morsel of wisdom that Malcolm Nance, an interrogator in Iraq, arrived at on his own, and one that is shared by interrogator, William Quinn. Sadly, many of our returning troops are finding themselves in a living hell, because they succumbed to violating their deeply held beliefs and are finding it necessary to punish themselves by committing suicide at a rate of 125 per week.
As the Senator concludes, this is not his America and it shouldn't be ours. Which is why he asks that we trust ourselves and trust the values that have kept us safe. So we can return to the nation that is not an example of the use of force, but leads other nations by the force of its example--perhaps my favorite point.
Looking to the future on a more cheerful note is, I think, important. So, happening to catch some of our Republican Senators on C-SPAN yesterday, as they announced the re-organization of their leadership and re-affirmed their commitment to the notion that their purpose in the Senate is to promote faith and values, it occurred to me that, if in fact, "the Lord will provide," then we really wouldn't need these self-proclaimed dealers in faith, at all, and was led to the conclusion that, to be on the safe side, we need someone who's committed to specific actions that will move the nation forward and correct some of the problems man and nature have caused. Which is why I append this last little video.
Chris Dodd is a serious candidate with an important message. I'm glad voters get this as one of the choices. He would make a good President.
Susan wrote "Nobody puts Howard Dean down in front of me and gets away with it, period."
I live by the same maxim. Here's an excerpt of what DFA member Ben Iglar-Mobley had to say on the subject on 10/29/07:
"I am a progressive. I am for single-payer healthcare, the immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq, impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, opting out of NAFTA and the WTO, and the creation of a Department of Peace. But I am not for Dennis Kucinich for president. No movement progressive should support Kucinich, because Kucinich does not support the movement.
"I don't believe Kucinich is too far to the left for me to support him; in fact, on many issues I stand further left than he is. I opposed the war against Afghanistan before it was even engaged, while Kucinich stills supports it. I am a lifelong supporter of reproductive freedom, while Kucinich only came around to that position in 2003 when he decided to run for president.
" . . . .
"In the 2004 cycle, Dennis Kucinich was running against one person, and it wasn't George W. Bush. It was Howard Dean. Kucinich famously brought a visual chart of military spending to a radio debate and was gently ribbed by the moderator for offering a prop that 'doesn't work so well on radio.' What was Kucinich's response? Did he say, 'It works if my opponents can see it'? No, he said, 'It works if Howard Dean can see it.' Why Dean alone? Why would he seek to undermine another candidate who at least shared his opposition to the Iraq War and to the USA PATRIOT Act? Later, going into the Iowa caucuses Kucinich instructed his supporters specifically not to caucus for Dean if their precincts did not reach the threshold for him, but instead go over to Edwards. This was the Edwards of the time who had not yet decided that invaded Iraq was a mistake and who did not regret his vote for the invasion-- the same Edwards who voted for PATRIOT and for Bush's tax cuts, which Dean opposed. How was that meant to build the left? I kept waiting to hear Kucinich go after Joe Lieberman in the debates, who after all was sharing a stage with him and who I think offered a prime target for what Kucinich said he opposed in the Democratic Party. I'm still waiting to hear him go after Lieberman. Finally, I would have been happy hearing Kucinich go after anyone besides Dean. He never did. Effectively, Kucinich signed on for the 'stop Dean' counter-insurgency in the Democratic Party-- although he was coming from the completely opposite direction as the rest of it. I'm still waiting to hear from any Kucinich supporter how trading Dean for Kerry-- who, again, at the time supported the war, the tax cuts, and PATRIOT-- was in service of building the progressive movement's issues.
" . . . .
"Gloria Steinem commented on Ralph Nader in 2000 that it was easy for him to stake out the positions that he took because he wasn't seeking to build coalitions as Al Gore was. I think the same can be said of Dennis Kucinich's campaigns, in 2004 and now 2008. Dennis Kucinich is 'Nadering' the Democratic Party from inside it. He offers the appearance of building the left, while in reality his campaign is a 'symbol' that represents nothing but itself.
"Support Kucinich if you wish, but don't think you're building the left with your support. Don't think you are building the movement. A movement requires us to move-- to move legislation, to move ourselves to action. In the end, Dennis Kucinich is sound and fury... signifying nothing."
Re: Harry Taylor from previous thread - here's a link to his confrontation of Bush that created a huge website: thankyouharrytaylor.
youtube.com/watch?v=SnOFri7fRDU
Website is harrytaylorforcongress.com/dec12/
Running in North Carolina against Sue Myrick
Nice post Monica.
...the 2nd vid...the Military Commissions Act. That one slayed me the most. I was shocked at a couple of folks who supported it. Disappointed in the other (d)'s, but not surprised.
But when I saw Menendez and Stabenow from the Senate.....oh, and the crushing Sherrod Brown in the House, that just brought new lows.
I know Senator Menendez has been working to reverse that.....with no luck. Which brings us to the next part. Taking your vote as serious as it is.
oh, wait, I posted a fact about some Senators votes. Am I going to be accused of calling them derogatory names now, too?
(sic)
"Support Kucinich if you wish, but don't think you're building the left with your support."
Maybe. But it goes for the others even moreso.
Sitka wrote "Maybe. But it goes for the others even moreso."
My preferred approach would be to vote for a Democrat who opposed the invasion at the time it was gathering congressional authorization and didn't take shots at Dean later.
Global Warming is not being discussed as it should be. This is the utmost importance. AND PUSHING TAX FUNDED FOSSIL FUEL and NUCLEAR PLANTS WILL HURT US MORE.
Yes, Chris Dodd is the only candidate that has spoke about the Carbon Tax. WE need to hear more.
North Carolina and Georgia are in serious trouble. Georgia has almost 50 percent of the state in SERIOUS DROUGHT condidtions.
GOP headed toward a road less moderate?
Alicia Mundy
Seattle Times Washington bureau
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo...
2. Tom - I remember all that as well about Kucinich. Sadly, none of the candidates are *pure* But this is what we have this time around. I like Dodd but he isn't gaining and he voted for this bloody war. So I'm leaning Obama at the moment. Hubby is already in the Obama camp. I think Hillary is toast but I'm a tad concerned about her being *the comeback kid*.
U.S. 'Not Ready' To Commit Cutting On Emissions In Bali Summit
December 9, 2007 9:54 a.m. EST
John Concepcion - AHN News Writer
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/...
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations' chief climate scientist met Norwegian leaders early Sunday to kick off the official program leading up to them accepting the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Monday.
When he arrived on Friday, Gore urged countries meeting at a climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, to speed up work on a strong climate treaty to replaces the current Kyoto accords. The governments hope to finish drafting a new climate treaty by 2009, with a current target of 2012 for ratification, but Gore urged them to move the ratification deadline ahead by two years.
The meeting marks the start of three days of celebrations of the 2007 Nobel peace laureates, which include a news conference on Sunday, the awards ceremony on Monday, followed by a parade and banquet in the winners' honor, and the traditional Nobel peace concert on Tuesday.
As the meeting was starting on a day of snow showers in Oslo, 3-year-old Haakon Gulowsen, the son of Greenpeace Norway leader Truls Gulowsen, gave Gore a single white flower called a wood anemone that had been found growing wild in the capital during winter, even though it usually blossoms in the spring.
«It's extremely rare that it would blossom now,» the father told the AP. «It seems to be confused by the climate. .... We gave it as a symbol.
Gore warns CO2 cuts needed for survival of civilization
Oslo (AP): Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore said Sunday that reducing CO2 emissions is essential to the ``survival of our civilization'
Co-laureate Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that "we have a clear window" to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and "have to show results by 2015."
http://www.pr-inside.com/gore-and-un-climate-scientist-meet-r338933.htm
vb wrote "Sadly, none of the candidates are *pure* But this is what we have this time around."
True, but this situation is common. There were more than a few liberal commentators and lawmakers from Dean's own state, not to mention Kucinich, who regarded Dean as a political charlatan, a moderate posing as a liberal. I've seen criticism of every candidate on the ballot here, and I've leveled criticism of every candidate.
What are our options? I've swung towards the candidate who opposed the invasion, whose campaign has resembled Dean's the most, and who hasn't rallied against Dean when he ran for president or when became party chair.
Mary
U.S. 'Not Ready' To Commit Cutting On Emissions In Bali Summit
December 9, 2007 9:54 a.m. EST
....Great headline, huh?
How will we solve these crisis and problems with the leadership we are seeing.
...on the last treaty talks, Mr. Gore was VP then, Clinton put up walls constantly on any efforts to combat Global Warming. The delegation that he sent then was stonewalling and complaining of limits then, too. Mr. Gore flew out there during the talks and told them they had to compromise and then Mr. Gore symbolicly signed the treaty then.
Of course, it was never ratified, as we know.
Nice post Monica. Dodd would make an excellent president from my perspective. He's one we can trust, is knowledgeable to the point of exhaustion, personable (but maybe not as much as he wants to exhibit).
I enjoyed watching him in a small rally in an attractive open meadow-like place in NH. His two small girls arrived running toward him as he was finishing up his speech. The smallest one, Gracie (2 or 3 yrs old) ran into her dad's arms. You could see how much he loved and enjoyed them -- he is a family man.
Not to mention his wife, who in her own right, could be running for prez.
For any Obama people here. The Oprah effect.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/08/c...
Robert Kennedy Jr.,Environmentalist, opposed to fossil fuels, coal and Global Warming, endorsed Hillary.
Now this week, John Doerr, partner in the VC firm that brought on Mr. Gore, who is also was at the forefront of Google and Apple and is now a partner in Blood and Gore's Generation Investment Management firm endorsed Hillary too.
...things that make you go hmmmmm.
DEM RACE TIGHTER THAN EVER; HUCKABEE SURGE CONTINUES
Posted: Sunday, December 09, 2007 8:55 AM by Chuck Todd
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2...
Linda*in*SFNM
Sun, 12/09/07
11:43 am
____________________________________________________________________________
Its pretty bad her in NC..................in fact, I havent showered for 5 days.........lucky for you guys.
Linda NM
I read your reply this morning on the previous thread about Obama's NO vote on an amendment to cap interest to 30%.
Anyone who has been paying attention to him would know that no doubt the reason he voted against it was because 30% is an outrageously high interest rate. In fact, most states have usury laws much lower than that.
I believe Feingold, a true liberal, also voted NO as all the other Dems should have as well. It would have been a feather in their cap as it is was Obama's.
When others on this blog and elsewhere have criticized Dems in Congress for going along with ridiculous Republican bills and amendments that should not be voted into law, you seem to be implying that Obama and Feingold were wrong and should have gone along with the Republican amendment even though it was wrong.
Washington Post, Page One
By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 9, 2007; A01
In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.
Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said. "The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough," said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.
Congressional leaders from both parties would later seize on waterboarding as a symbol of the worst excesses of the Bush administration's counterterrorism effort. The CIA last week admitted that videotape of an interrogation of one of the waterboarded detainees was destroyed in 2005 against the advice of Justice Department and White House officials, provoking allegations that its actions were illegal and the destruction was a coverup. Yet long before "waterboarding" entered the public discourse, the CIA gave key legislative overseers about 30 private briefings, some of which included descriptions of that technique and other harsh interrogation methods, according to interviews with multiple U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge.
With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan)....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
I am beginning to think they are not bothering to fix this clock because they could be preparing to shut down this blog. Gotta be some reasonable explanation.
I'm flattered to find this post up front. Thanks for the kind words.
I have spent most of the morning in the archives, so to speak.
You see, it turns out Fed Thompson conducted a special investigation into campaign finance irregularities in 1997. Rmember those? Remember the Buddhist nuns? Remember a couple of people who eventually went to jail?
Well, the final report is up on Wikipedia, but there are some sections missing--specifically from 21-32. So, I went to find them in the government archives and found one that's sort of interesting about Charlie Trie's "contributions" to the Clinton's legal expense fund. You know, they needed that because the vast right-wing conspiracy was hounding them.
Well, it's a shoddy business they conducted.
I'm going to write it up as a KOS diary. Haven't decided yet whether to publish.
Sorry Joan in Florida
No, I don't think it was as Sitka referred to Feingold as for NOT VOTING, because he thought 30 percent was too high.
I would say anyone who has been payiing attention to him knows, as he sights in that article I referenced for you, that he compromises for his donors, as even the big donor acknowledged, that he voted NO for.
27. Yes, I told you. The Gang of Eight.
Democrats. along with Republicans, are paralyzed by guilt. That's how secrecy works.
Hey Mike, I'm so sorry. I knew things were going to get rought when even the hurricanes and tropical storms started hitting further north now. Hitting the next stage past the extreme weather conditions of draught and floods.
As they new map has been drawn, bringing the south much further north.
a bunch of good stories here...
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/
btw, my zero population link last night was meant as humor. who wouldn't laugh at such a notion???
Obama in South Carolina today will be live streaming at:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/oprahwebcast
Doors open to the 80,000 stadium at 12:30 ET. Arrested Development will be performing.
No indication as to when the two big O's will also be "performing."
dem candidates on climate change...
The Harkin Steak Fry candidate chart
Candidates reveal their priorities
Posted by Ken Ward at 5:14 PM on 08 Dec 2007
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/12...
31.
No facts behind your statements Linda NM, simply your own opinion.
Feingold voted AGAINST the amendment and so did Obama, as should have every other Democrat in the Senate.
30% rates are outrageous and higher than most states allow for personal loans and legal rates of interest.
My state, Florida, sets a legal rate of interest at 12% though often disregarded by courts. A personal loan under $500,000 has an 18% cap, over $500,000 25%.
Check that out at:
Joan, nothing but facts. Feingold DIDN'T VOTE, Obama voted against, just like all his other votes.
If people want to ignore them, that's fine, live with the results, but don't tell me the facts I'm posting and reffering are wrong because you want to look at it with a different light.
Joan thanks for the streaming link :)
Here is a link to a video from Cindy Sheehan - she's asking for letters to Pelosi so here's your chance, non-Californians, to say your piece about impeachment!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXv9s52zp...
Nice post Monica. I always like reading your posts. It was a pleasure to meet you in Manchester.
So, Monica, you think this all (gang of 8 issue)... has to do with Conyers being in charge of the Judiciary Committee now, with the Dem's being involved, that Pelosi dangled that over Conyers head to drop impeachment?...or even his ethics charge of using his Senatorial office to do his wifes work and campaign issues?
Linda*in*SFNM
Sun, 12/09/07
1:05 pm
... as one seems to be the front runner more and more the cape of 'progressive protector' will cover past errance from the good of 'the people'. 'The people' will herd behind the wolf, the cliff not seen ahead.
Deaniac, yes, apparently.
Funny, like Jihad Joe, they hate when you talk about the issues and the facts. Much rather talk about nonsense.
Linda*in*SFNM
Sun, 12/09/07
12:40 pm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well, nature chooses its own chess matches doesnt it? In about 4 months the shit wil start hitting the fan here...then things will get real interesting......the beautiful, well watered and manicured lawns of many houses in this area will soon beocme a thing of the past as thank God for that..................Im beyond trying to impress the Jones'............
As for us, whats left of th green lawn will now have large plots of mulch and native grasses, actually some are veyr pretty and take up space.....toss in some drought resistant plants and there ya go.......................watch the prices of bottled water start shooting up too...........
We have been on water restrictions/rationing for some time now, and I applaud the "tiered water rates"..........in other words of some asshole wants to water his/her lawn from sun up t sun down thats fine..they will pay a heavy price for it............as for the landscapers and lawn maintenance guys, time for a new profession................
And on tha note............time for a glass of ................water.
give me the message....
Well, that's interesing, Mobley likes Kucinich's message just not the messenger. Let me say, for the last 7 years, I have not liked the messenger and have been terrified of his message.
I would give almost anything to have a messenger I DIDN'T like who had a DREAM MESSAGE too GOOD TO EVEN WISH FOR in the Oval office.
Mobley says Kucinich refused to give money to the DCCC? That's a plus not a minus. Does he know of another candidate who wants to impeach? I see impeachment and saving our Constitution as the most important issue. So does Dennis.
I'm voting for the message and not the messenger.
43. Yes. At least mulch helps keep what ever moisture is left in the ground, right?
I agree, some don't think about things until it hits them. The tiered pricing is good. And some may still not pay attention.
...you know, I didn't even think about the newest American business venture, landscaping. Really not much need for that these days. Even if you go with conservation methods, away from grass, that alone rids the waste of unnecessary maintenance.
John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), on the CBS news this morning, seemed to me to be particularly reluctant to lay the responsibility of violating U.S. law and international treaties/conventions at the feet of the Administration.
He also thinks an independant prosecutor is not the way to go, saying that his committee is the proper venue for intel oversight
... tho all indications are that they haven't done that duty.
Also it seems that things were put before them in the past specificly to muzzle them.
It is very scary that these folks have been outwitted by the boyking and his inept band of idiots.
mprov...the scale...so that may explain why Hillary is getting those endorsements, huh?
Google had the references to Trie right up top, so that suggests other people are checking it out.
It is very scary that these folks have been outwitted by the boyking and his inept band of idiots.
They are complicit, not duped.
41. Pelosi has been one of the Gang of Eight since it was set up. Maybe I should retrieve some stuff from Hannah.
Joan thanks for the streaming link!
Here is a link to a video from Cindy Sheehan asking you to write letters to Pelosi about impeachment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXv9s52zp...
test
Sitka
Sun, 12/09/07
1:44 pm
... obviously. Sometimes i try to be nice enough to leave some wiggle room for them to reverse course.
To be completely frank, the only other option to them wrighting their own wrongs, of complicity, would be the firing squad.
CNN is now pushing the NeoCon line,"The CIA was wrong about Iraq's weapons program. How do we know they aren't now wrong about Iran's?"
Linda - Xeriscaping (sp?0 is the way to go. We did that in Colorado and have done the same here in the islands. After the first year - the plantings (mostly ornamental grasses) are drought-resistant.
I seem to be able to post now, so Monica, congrats on a great front page post!
I always like to read what you have to say as you do it in a very eloquent and non threatening way. Glad we got to meet in Manchester this summer.
If the rawstory report is accurate about the executive order issued in October of 2001 limiting the dissemination of classified and sensitive information gathered by our intelligence agencies to just eight people, the leadership in the house and senate and the chairs of the intelligence committees, then the following would have been the relevant people in 2001:
Hastert
Gebhardt
Daschle
Lott
Graham of Florida
Shelby
Goss
Pelosi
and if the import of the order was communicated to their successors in those offices, the people now in the know would be:
Hastert
Pelosi
Reid
Frist
Roberts
Rockefeller
Hoekstra
Harman
Moreover, if the order was issued and if it hasn’t been rescinded, then the meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 24, 2002 about which Sy Hersh reported, on the basis of confidential sources, that the CIA laid out the information on the supposed purchase of yellow cake uranium from Niger, either didn’t happen and Hersh was used to transmit disinformation, or the Senate Committee was lied to, or the executive order was violated or waived and the Senate Committee got accurate information and someone decided to pass on false information to Hersh.
While this seems terribly confusing, it does seem interesting that of the original gang of eight, only Hastert and Pelosi are left in the loop.
Gebhardt, Daschle, Graham and Goss are no longer in Congress. Shelby has been timed out by an eight year rule. Lott is still on the Senate Select Committee but has not moved up to Chair.
So, maybe Nanci Pelosi is the person to ask for an explanation about what the President did and when he did it.
Will Mario Cuomo Speak Up for Impeachment?
Submitted by Bob Fertik on November 23, 2007 - 2:08pm.
Impeach.TV
ImpeachForChange
Mario Cuomo is by far the greatest orator of our generation, so it's a crying shame that he speaks out so rarely on the great issues of our time.
But on Wednesday he gave an untitled speech that looseheadprop is calling "Our Lady of the Law." Cuomo decried
“signing statements,” “secret White House task forces,” and the “unprecedented politicization of the Department of Justice.”... [and] “the seizing by presidents of the power to declare war.”
Cuomo urged American lawyers to follow the lead of Pakistani lawyers and take to the streets in support of the Rule of Law.
Cuomo doesn't speak off the cuff, so it's a shame he didn't complete his research.
He even at one point mentioned litigation that had occurred apparently challenging the legality of the Viet Nam war. Unfortunately, he never mentioned the name of the case.
http://www.democrats.com/will-mario-cuom...
PLEASE consider sending a plea to Gov. Cuomo to support an investigation
Towards discovery as to whether there are legal grounds for impeachment of both Bush and Cheney…(I did!)
His email address:
mcuomo@willkie.com
full address if contacting via letter…
Governor Mario M. Cuomo
mcuomo@willkie.com
MAIN OFFICE:
New York
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
787 Seventh Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10019-6099, U.S.A.
T 212-728-8260
F 212-728-9260
Well, it didn't work when their idolized Strategist, Karl Rove, tried to pin it on the Dem's. EVen Republicans came clean on that assertion, so they went to option 2.0 it's the CIA's fault.
My stuff slipped into the 40's. Maybe I should reload the browser.
linda, do you mean her small amount of time equals a weak stance equals corporate backing???
mike, your water statements would seem to contradict your hockey statement. lol!
LMAO
http://current.com/items/88490881_wga_in...
Writers Rap.
Why did Dodd say in the last debate he would choose security over liberty? It showed a weakness in thought on the issue...remember Ben Franklin's quote....
Huckabee on imigration................"we will build a fence"..............(south i suspect)
Err, Mike..............what about Canada and BOTH seacoasts? How about if bad guys tunnel in from China?
Denise
Sun, 12/09/07
12:11 pm
Well, i've been on 'The Speaker' for the whole time she's been in that position - it has done zero good, seemingly.
It also has done no good to denote the downhill slide of this blog's technical problems.
hmmmmmm
When hope is not enough
By Joan Vennochi
Globe Columnist / December 9, 2007
BARACK OBAMA is promising to change politics as usual in America. As Massachusetts already knows, that can be one tough promise to keep.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editor...
Calling on Congress to Stop a War
By Scott Ritter
Let’s hear it for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). After more than five years of effort, incorporating technologically advanced, exhaustive inspections of Iran’s declared nuclear facilities (and, to a lesser degree, some undeclared facilities as well), the fruit of its labor has been borne out in a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) produced by the U.S. intelligence community that finds that Iran is not currently pursuing a nuclear weapons program. While the analysis behind the NIE conclusion reflects the independent judgment of the 16 agencies which comprise the U.S. intelligence community, there is no doubt that the most influential information behind the assessment was that of the IAEA inspections, which had probed Iran’s nuclear program since November 2002. The IAEA had coordinated closely with the U.S. intelligence community in preparing for its inspections inside Iran, so much so that there was almost no stone left unturned and no major question left unanswered for U.S. analysts when it came to the nuclear facilities and activities of interest. The consensus-driven NIE puts to rest the notion that Iran represents any sort of imminent threat worthy of near-term pre-emptive military action.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/2007...
YEAAAHHHHH. Stop their efforts to control, privatize and extort the food supply.
They have modified our plants so much, you now need a plants to plant. Seeds no longer...SEED. Modifying tomato plants, so their sturdier for storing and shipping. Modifying our fruit bearing trees so their seeds no longer grow from their own seeds. Modyfying and destroying mother nature and our food supply.
Plum trees are now unable to grow from their pits. This is horrible what we are allowing these Corporations to do.
France Suspends Commercial GMO Seed Use, Studies Safety
by Tamora Vidaillet / Valerie Parent
PARIS - France formally suspended on Thursday the commercial use of genetically modified (GMO) seeds in the country until early February and ordered a biotech safety study.
The future of GMOs has long been the subject of heated debate in France — Europe’s top grain producer — and the country’s reluctance to use GMO crops compares starkly with the United States, which is far more tolerant of the technology.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007...
Waldo Proffitt
BUSH'S ROAD TO RUIN IN IRAQ
What's too painful to remember...
When I told my doctor I thought my short-term memory was getting worse, he said, and I paraphrase, "I don't worry about octogenarians who feel their short-term memory is getting worse. I worry about those who don't."
I wonder what he will say when I tell him I fear the whole nation's short-term memory is getting worse. I can't think of any better explanation for the apparent decline in the level of public indignation about the war in Iraq.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/200...
Hey Deaniac - glad you even saw the post. Guess my phone call to HQ fell on deaf ears about their technical abilities.
I posted the link which I got in my email so folks can feel like they are doing something regarding impeachment though, you're right, it's falling on deaf ears.
Of course, everyone's House rep can be contacted every day which, if enough of them feel the heat, they can take it to Pelosi collectively. There has to be more than just Dennis who wants to see it on the table. She's not gonna budge until the House makes her do so. Contact your reps - might be more effective. If they don't do it, who will?
Demonstrations across the globe mark Bali summit
By Jerome Taylor
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are expected to take part in a global protest today to highlight the effects of climate change.
Demonstrations have been called for in 86 countries to coincide with the international UN Climate Talks in Bali. Protesters will be demanding urgent action from world leaders to do more to prevent the destabilisation of the Earth's climate.
In Britain, mass demonstrations will take place in London and Glasgow and a number of direct action environmental groups are also expected to stage their own form of protests.
Organisers in London are expecting tens of thousands of people to join the march which will converge on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square in protest at the Bush administration's reluctance to sign up to key climate treaties
http://environment.independent.co.uk/cli...
waiting for Oprah (Sounds like a book title:)
Kudos to Florida Gator Tim Tebow, the first college sophomore to ever win a Heisman Trophy.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/09/opinion/edcohen.php?WT.mc_id=rssfrontpage
Obama and the American idea
By Roger Cohen Published: December 9, 2007NEW YORK: I asked Senator Barack Obama if he's tough enough for a dangerous world. Sometimes the Democratic candidate treads so carefully, and looks so vulnerable to a gust of wind, the question of whether his legal mind can get lethal arises."Yes, I'm tough enough," he responded during a half-hour conversation.
...
That was striking: an enduring belief in U.S. leadership coupled with a commitment to, as he also put it, acting "with a sense of humility." Skepticism about the American idea and American global stewardship has grown fast during the Bush years.
...
Still, Obama stands by the universality of the American proposition: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness under a constitutional government of limited powers. "I believe in American exceptionalism," he told me, but not one based on "our military prowess or our economic dominance."
Rather, he insisted, "our exceptionalism must be based on our Constitution, our principles, our values and our ideals. We are at our best when we are speaking in a voice that captures the aspirations of people across the globe."
It is dangerous, of course, to speak of being exceptional; people tend to resent it. If the United States said its ambition was to be normal, few would object. But Obama is right to retain a belief in America's capacity to inspire; it remains unique. And I still see no credible alternative for stability to the far-flung American garrisons that act as the offsetting power to old rivalries in Asia and Europe.
Pax Americana, being neither perfect nor peaceful, is not popular. Only its absence would convince its detractors of its worth.
Obama's main Democratic rivals, Senator Hillary Clinton and former Senator John Edwards, have joined him in calling for a shift from fear, militarism and unilateralism toward interaction, including with enemies. But Obama's global engagement seems visceral in unique ways.
"If, as president, I travel to a poor country to talk to leaders there, they will know I have a grandmother in a small village in Africa without running water, devastated by malaria and AIDS," he said. "What that allows me to do is talk honestly not only about our need to help them, but about poor countries' obligation to help themselves. There are cousins of mine in Kenya who can't get a job without paying an exorbitant bribe to some mid-level functionary. I can talk about that."
Referring to the time he spent in Indonesia, Obama said: "I have lived in the most populous Muslim country in the world, had relatives who practiced Islam. I am a Christian, but I can say I understand your world view, although I may not agree with how Islam has evolved. I can speak forcefully about the need for Muslim countries to reconcile themselves to modernity in ways they have failed to do."
Al Qaeda attacked the West in Kenya, Bali and New York. Obama's father was Kenyan. The senator was schooled in Indonesia. He attended college in New York. The parallels are strange. They can also be a source of the toughness married to intuition for which he still seeks complete expression.
...
... the gloom of Iowa's corination is on the horizon.
For all the good it does, i stand with those having a record of truth and courage...
Kucinich/Feingold '08
Arrested Development now performing at Obama's rally. Kind of a jazzy group with a great message! Jazz rap. I like that.
Indy, I think don't meant that our security and liberty are one. The question implied a false dichotomy.
In October, Alexander Bolton wrote in the Hill about 2004 Dean supporters in 2008. Here are some excerpts:
"Donors who made Howard Dean the Democratic presidential front-runner ahead of the 2004 Iowa caucuses have flocked to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), helping him raise more money than any other White House candidate this year, according to a review of fundraising records.
"During the first half of 2007, 634 Dean donors contributed $200 or more to Obama’s campaign. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Obama’s chief rival, collected such contributions from 413 Dean donors. Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who has tried to appeal to the Democrats’ liberal base with fiery rhetoric, collected contributions from 371 so-called Deaniacs.
" . . . .
"As with Dean, Obama has raised much of his money through the Internet, more than any other candidate. And, also like Dean, Obama has raised his funds in small increments, a sign that Democratic enthusiasm for Obama is something like a movement. He has raised money from more than 350,000 Americans.
" . . . .
"A professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., Steven Smith, said that Obama has attracted many Dean donors because Clinton has positioned herself toward the political center with an eye on the general election.
"'There’s no doubt that when the opening volleys of the Democratic primary were cast many months ago it looked like Senator Clinton was positioning herself to the right of the rest of the candidates,' Smith said. 'There were stories that she had been doing so deliberately and that her aim was to win the general election and she wanted to moderate her image as much as she could.'
"As a result, Smith said, many Democrats began looking for a liberal alternative. Edwards positioned himself to the left of Clinton in hopes of filling that role, but Obama supplanted him.
“'When Edwards showed he couldn’t compete with Clinton, Obama stepped in and quickly championed the spectrum to the left of the Clinton,' Smith said."
new thread
http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23227...
Tom Bearse
Sun, 12/09/07
1:52 pm
Reply to this
In October, Alexander Bolton wrote in the Hill about 2004 Dean supporters in 2008. Here are some excerpts:
"Donors who made Howard Dean the Democratic presidential front-runner ahead of the 2004 Iowa caucuses have flocked to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), helping him raise more money than any other White House candidate this year, according to a review of fundraising records.
+++
Tom -
Thanks for that post.
Nobel laureate Gore sees hope in "people power"
:(
...not in this country.
OSLO (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore said on Sunday he was optimistic that a growing "people-power" movement would push the world's leaders to take action to stop global warming.
The former U.S. vice president likened the campaign to the ban-the-bomb movement of past decades, and urged leaders at a U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, to issue a mandate for a strong treaty to curb greenhouse gases.
Gore, who shared the 2007 peace prize with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for raising awareness and advancing climate science, will receive the prize in Oslo on Monday with the IPCC's chairman Rajendra Pachauri. The prize was announced in October.
"I have one reason for being optimistic, and that is that I see throughout my own country, the United States of America, and throughout the world the rising of the world's first people-power movement on a global basis," he said.
Gore pointed to an international grassroots nuclear-freeze movement which helped push U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to sign arms controls deals in the late 1980s, and said the climate campaign was even broader.
Gore and Pachauri will travel from Oslo to Bali where governments are meeting to try to launch negotiations towards an environmental treaty to succeed the Kyoto protocol which expires in 2012.
"It is my great hope that the meeting in Bali will result in a strong mandate empowering the world to move forward quickly to a meaningful treaty," Gore said.
....
"It is now abundantly clear that we cannot continue this process," he said.
Pachauri, seated next to Gore at Oslo's Nobel Institute under ceilings adorned with white peace doves, urged world leaders to consider tough steps to tackle global warming.
"If we were to carry out this stringent mitigation, one of the scenarios that we have assessed clearly shows that we have a window of nearly seven years," Pachauri said. "That means by 2015 we will have to see that emissions of greenhouse gases peak no later than that year and start declining thereafter."
"The time for doubting the science is over. What we need now is action," said Pachauri, an Indian who is head of a body of around 2,500 climate scientists from more than 130 nations.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/...
Maybe he meant from other countries.
What if it really boils down to the inability to stop Global Warming all at the hands of the United States and her citizens inaction. Or worse yet, specific actions to stop progress to solve the crisis.
82. Fortunately, we are all going to die and a new generation will take over.
written in a mssage from Garry Shay on Monday, December 10, 2007 12:09 AM
They are seeking "clarifications" to then argue after the "clarifications" are made that the law was not clear and thus what they did was not a war crime.
No clarification is needed; only prosecution.
---
Op-eds on legal news by law professors and JURIST special guests...
Clarifying' the Geneva Conventions: A Ploy to Limit US Culpability
JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law says official US calls for "clarifying" the Geneva Conventions are part of a ploy to limit their application and enable prisoners to be treated outside the law without inviting culpability for war crimes and torture...
---
State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger III has called for "clarification" of Geneva Conventions in the margins of the 30th international conference of the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent in Geneva (see this report on JURIST).
Bellinger said,
[The Conventions] do not apply to every situation. They in fact apply to conflicts between states. So therefore the Geneva Conventions do not give you the answers about who can be held in a conflict with a non-state actor. They do not tell you how long you can hold someone in a conflict with a non-state actor. They do not tell you what countries to return people to. In a normal conflict where one is fighting one or maybe two countries, at the end of the conflict you return the combatants to those countries. In fighting al-Qaida we've found that we have detained individuals from more than two dozen countries around the world. The Geneva Conventions do not provide answers to those questions so they don't provide sufficient guidance to countries as to what law to apply.
I want to emphasize the consistent and relentless effort of those speaking for the United States Government to keep trying to convince all of us domestically and internationally that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to this armed conflict. It started soon after 9/11 and was enshrined very early on in the February 7, 2002 Presidential Military Order. Bellinger is one more of a long line of persons working overtime to argue for holes and seek our acquiescence in this view.
The reason for these arguments is not one of principle but it is rather one of decisions made to be able to treat persons outside of law. The law is used to protect the persons who conspired to act outside of law who do not want to face any consequences for the decisions taken. As long as these persons are able to keep us guessing and arguing about the applicability of Geneva Conventions they can keep us from looking at their intended acts that are grave breaches and war crimes. We should not be duped by this ploy.
Bellinger went on to say, ...
...It is clear to me that the lever of the issue of when to return people is trying to be used to encourage a review of several aspects of the Geneva Conventions. The reason for this effort is that if one can convince the world to create a new protocol to deal with things one argues were not covered in the prior Conventions or Protocols, then one is able to vindicate the United States Government’s position since early on in the "War on Terror" that the Geneva Conventions and Protocols did not apply to the conflict. Through this maneuver, any prosecution for those leadership persons of the United States for grave breaches and war crimes for existing Geneva law violations before international criminal tribunals would then be undermined on the basis of the principle of legality. ...full article: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2007/1...
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