In the Course of Human Events

Closing thoughts for 2006

2006-12-31T09:46:00.000-06:00

A new year. Here's what I'm hoping for from the Democrats in the Congress. Investigations into Bush corruption and law breaking. Accountability from Bush and his cronies. If that means impeachment or criminal prosecutions so much the better.

People keep talking about how President Ford "healed the nation" by pardoning the criminal Nixon. Now, we know it's not true. Ford did it to save his pal Nixon from the shame of being held accountable for his crimes.

Ford, Nixon Sustained Friendship for Decades
"I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma," Ford said in the interview.

This is incriminating evidence and so far, I've not heard the media bringing it up or correcting all their attributions of pure motives to Ford. Disgusting. Ford deserved to lose the presidency over the pardon, now we have the confession from Ford.

The Ford pardon is possibly why we have this run-amuck occupant in the White House. For shame.

Let's hope the Democrats set a better example than Ford and hold the criminal would-be dictator Bush and his crimianl cronies accountable in 2007.

Categories: Democrat, Bush, Ford, Nixon, 2007

Travellers in America virtually stripped and assigned Risk Score

2006-12-03T12:45:00.000-06:00

Not too long ago I saw a parody where people were required to fly nude. Now, people are being asked to "virtually strip" with high powered X-rays to board planes. Allegedly someone can refuse to be X-rayed and be "patted down" instead, but as we know from the Gilmore v. Gonzales case the government likes to keep some laws secret. Therefore people can have varied experiences at airports when they can't prove what the laws really state.

Check out Crooks and Liars to see a sample image of what the government may now be keeping on you along with your "Risk Assessment Score".

Yes, the feds have been keeping/collecting data on people and assigning them Risk Assessment scores but unlike your credit report, you can't see the score, the data used to compile it, or make corrections. However! The Feds will share it with others.

American Travelers to Get Secret 'Risk Assessment' Scores

The Automated Targeting System (ATS) will create and assign "risk assessments" to tens of millions of citizens as they enter and leave the country. Individuals will have no way to access information about their "risk assessment" scores or to correct any false information about them. But once the assessment is made, the government will retain the information for 40 years -- as well as make it available to untold numbers of federal, state, local, and foreign agencies in addition to contractors, grantees, consultants, and others.

For more information see Epic's article "Customs and Border Protection’s Automated System Targets U.S. Citizens".

Is this America or another mad dash down the path to a new police state?

Update: Senator Leahy is on the case.

Leahy: Terror scores 'overdue for oversight'

"Data banks like this are overdue for oversight," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, who will take over Judiciary in January. "That is going to change in the new Congress."...

"It is simply incredible that the Bush administration is willing to share this sensitive information with foreign governments and even private employers, while refusing to allow U.S. citizens to see or challenge their own terror scores," Leahy said. This system "highlights the danger of government use of technology to conduct widespread surveillance of our daily lives without proper safeguards for privacy."

Categories: American, freedom, civil, liberties, privacy, government, surveillance, technology, travel

December 03, 2006 at 12:45:00 PM

Obama figures out Iraq War isn't popular and is another failed Bush fiasco

2006-11-24T23:05:00.000-06:00

I started this post a few days ago, but it still applies.

Two weeks after a dramtic election with voters sending a signal through a bull horn that they want change in the failed Iraq policy, and 2 years after Illinois voters sent him to the Senate to represent them, Barack Obama has finally come out against the Iraq War.

"The time for waiting in Iraq is over. It is time to change our policy."

What took him so long?

This is typical Obama waiting until the coast is totally clear before taking a position. At least the good for nothing Bush fired the good for nothing Rumsfeld the day after the elections. Did Obama think maybe it was all a dream and the Democrats didn't really win?

Obama is not a leader. Sometimes he can be a smooth talker: but you can't figure out if he has a position. Unlike a real leader who... leads. All Obama does is follow the pack. Every thing he's "proposing" someone else beat him to it.

Here's one example.

Obama on November 21, 2006

Obama stopped short of calling for bringing the troops home, instead saying some would be redeployed to northern Iraq, others to other parts of the Mideast and still others to Afghanistan.

Sounds like something John Murtha said more than a year before on November 17, 2005

My plan calls for immediate redeployment of U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces to create a quick reaction force in the region, to create an over-the-horizon presence of Marines, and to diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq.

Too bad Obama didn't come out and support Murtha on this proposal last year. Too bad Obama's been too busy trying to triangulate a position he can't be held accountable for in order to further his vain, unjustifiable, presidential ambitions.

It's disgusting that some people think we should have an empty suit like Obama running for president in '08.

Categories: Obama, Iraq, War, 2008

Democracy still lives in America!

2006-11-08T21:23:00.000-06:00

Who isn't feeling like doing the Snoopy Happy Dance? or sticking your thumbs in your ears waggling your fingers and going "Nyah nyah nyah Bush! You lost!"

The Democrats took back the House and the Senate! Then Rumsfeld was fired/resigned. So not only did we get a cake and it was frosted, but we're going to eat it too.

So what this means is that finally Americans have said "Enough!" to Bush and the GOP Rubberstamp Congress. Real oversight. Subpoenas. Hearings. Bush is toast!

I'm looking forward to Congressman John Conyers hearings into Bush's illegal activities. Bush just had his ass kicked by the electorate. Wait till the people find out what he's really been up to. Bush and Cheny may be impeached or forced to resign.

Democracy still lives in America! Hooray!

Categories: American, politics, 2006, election, Democrat, GOP, Bush

GOTV time

2006-10-31T12:15:00.000-06:00

I haven't forgotten this blog. Crunch time! If you haven't already volunteered to help GOTV (Get Out The Vote) do it now.

Try Do More than Vote or call up a local campaign.

Categories: American, politics, 2006, elections

Time to stop Bush's Fear Mongering and political smearing and get on with being Americans

2006-09-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

The whole politicization of 9/11 is sickening. Bush is disgusting. As is every member of his mis-administration. ABC, Disney, and GOP wingnut extremists are sickening with their blatant election-year-hail-Mary-for-the-GOP attempt to blame Clinton for Bush's failure to do anything about the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Brief entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US." (See end of post for the entire, but redacted, PDB from the 9/11 Commission's site.)

Despite the ABC/Disney/GOP Pack of Lies to 9/11 the American people aren't fooled for long as reported by CNN.

"Poll: More Americans blame Bush for 9/11"
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The percentage of Americans who blame the Bush administration for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington has risen from almost a third to almost half over the past four years, a CNN poll released Monday found.

Asked whether they blame the Bush administration for the attacks, 45 percent said either a "great deal" or a "moderate amount," up from 32 percent in a June 2002 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

When does it end? We have been dragged into a war in Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, the Taliban is re-taking Afghanistan, and Osama Bin Laden is still free. We are having our civil rights taken away, and the Bush War Crimes Administration is calling Americans who don't goose march with them fascists.

America wasn't founded by cowards. America was founded by people filled with bravery and optimism. It's about time we move on with our lives and leave Bush's fear mongering and un-American dysphoric American future where it belongs: the trash heap of failed GOP fantasies.

Here is the infamous PDB.

The following is the text of an item from the Presidential Daily Brief received by President George W. Bush on August 6, 2001.37 Redacted material is indicated by brackets.
Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."

After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a [-] service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an [-] service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the oper-ative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack.

Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al-Qa'ida members-including some who are US citizens-have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qua' da members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [-] service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar 'Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives.

Categories: Bush, ABC, GOP, Clinton, 9/11, American, politics

Act now to stop Republicans from endorsing criminal domestic spying programs.

2006-09-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

One thing that's happening this week, is the cynical, evil effort by the Republican thugs to retroactively approve of Bush's illegal domestic warrantless spying program by the NSA. The terrorist win if they get us to give up our freedoms. The Republicans with their mindless authoritarian power grab are their accomplices as they shred the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

Call your Senators and Congressperson and tell them you want Bush to stop warrantless spying and to follow the Consitution and FISA as-is.

Here's the Senators' contact info and the Congressmen's and Congresswomen's contact info.

EFF gives suggestions on what to say.

If you're calling a Senator:
"Hello, I'm a constituent, and I want to urge my senator to oppose Senator Specter's S. 2453 bill, which would prevent effective judicial oversight of the NSA domestic spying program. My senator should also oppose Senator DeWine's S.2455 and Rep. Wilson's H.R.5825 if it reaches the Senate. I am opposed to the NSA's wiretapping of Americans' phone calls and emails without search warrants, and I want this program's legality to be judged in our traditional court system."

If you're calling a Representative:
"Hello, I'm a constituent, and I want to urge my representative to oppose Representative Wilson's H.R.5825. My representative should also oppose Senator Specter's S.2453 and Senator DeWine's S.2455 if they reach the House. I am opposed to the NSA's wiretapping of Americans' phone calls and emails without search warrants, and I want this program's legality to be judged in our traditional court system."

For more information on NSA Spying see the EFF's Domestic Spying webpages and the ACLU lawsuit website.

Categories: Bush, illegal, NSA, domestic, spying, Specter, Congress, FISA, EFF, ACLU

Detroit Judge Rules Bush's illegal domestic wireless spying must stop

2006-08-17T11:29:00.000-05:00

Who hoo! The Rule of Law!

Federal judge in Detroit rules warrantless wiretapping surveillance program unconstitutional
DETROIT (AP) A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

Categories: Bush, illegal, domestic, spying, NSA

100actions.com action item: Learn Your Election Deadlines

2006-08-11T23:47:00.000-05:00

The 100actions.com action for today is

Learn Your Election Deadlines
You've still got some time before Election Day, but do some research and learn the important Election-related dates for your state. Absentee ballots, registration dates, etc.

Excellent idea! This info is available at Cook County Clerk David Orr's Voterinfonet website.

Some voting and election definitions first

regular Voter Registration: Voters can register in-person at their county, village, township and other government facilities, register with a deputry registrar, or register by a mail-in form to vote.
Early voting: All voters may vote in-person before the election without having a reason or excuse.
Absentee voting: voters may cast absentee ballots by mail.
Grace-period registration and voting: The regular registration deadline is extended by 14 days for voters who vote early or by absentee ballot.

The Deadlines for the 2006 General Election on November 7.

September 28: First day to apply for absentee ballot
October 10: Last day for regular Voter Registration; Last day to apply for Absentee ballot -- it must be received at Clerk's Office!
October 11: First day for Grace-period registration and voting
October 16: First day for in-person Early voting and Absentee voting
October 24: Last day for Grace-period registration and voting
November 2: Last day for Early voting (in-person); First day to apply for absentee ballot for voters admitted to a hospital, nursing home or rehabilitation center five days or less before Election Day.
November 6: Last day to apply for absentee ballot for voters admitted to hospital, etc. 5 days before election -- it must be received at Clerk's Office!; Last day for absentee ballots to be postmarked for acceptance by Clerk's Office.
November 7 Election Day: Go vote!

If you live in the city or elewhere in Illinois you can see the Illinois State Board of Elections or Chicago Board of Election Commissioners for more information.

Categories: 2006, election, deadline, voting, Illinois

Ned Lamont won, Lieberman proves he's a sore loser, Emanuel and Durbin speak out

2006-08-09T21:29:00.000-05:00

Time to chime in on the Senate race in Connecticut. I was glued to the news yesterday to see what would happen. It's such a great feeling to finally have a win! The DC status quo people are on notice. Don't defy the voters!

The voters of Connecticut struck a blow for democracy and against the Republican Rubber Stamps like Sore Loser Joe Lieberman yesterday. Every Illinois Democrat should come out and say they support the Democratic candidate: Ned Lamont.

If you want to contribute to Ned Lamont click through the I support Ned image.

It's good to see some Illinois Democrats in important positions are speaking out.

Rahm Emanuel has been infuriatingly quiet about speaking out on the Iraq War, but if he continues to talk about Bush and his rubber stamp enablers like this through November we could win the House.

Conn. Race Could Be Democratic Watershed
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Friday he is not worried about the fallout from the Senate primary on House races, arguing that the message from Connecticut is that anyone supporting Bush's war policies is in deep trouble. "What's playing out here is that being a rubber stamp for George Bush is politically dangerous to life-threatening," he said.

and

A Referendum on Iraq Policy
"This shows what blind loyalty to George Bush and being his love child means," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the leader of the Democratic House Congressional campaign. "This is not about the war. It's blind loyalty to Bush."

Then, today Chicago Public Radio local news at the top of the hour played a clip of Senator Dick Durbin supporting Ned Lamont. He even admited (paraphrase here) Lieberman lost because he was seen as too cozy with Bush. Uh huh! You can say that again!

Joe Lieberman is the biggest sore loser I have ever seen. He's said "f*@! you" to the voters of Conneticut. His run for Senate after the voters said, "No, we don't want you as our nominee." is arrogant and destructive. He lost the election. He should be man enough to accept the will of the voters with grace. The Democrats should kick him out of their caucus.

The logo for Joe Sore Loserman 2006 is from This Modern World with the invitiation to distribute it far and wide.

Categories: Democrats, democracy, election, 2006, Connecticut, Lamont, Durbin, Emanuel

Oakland Police infiltrate anti-war protestor group

2006-08-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

You think we don't have a police state?

The Oakland Police Department infiltrated an anti-war political group and got themselves elected to "influence" the group's activities according to a story on NPR.

Listen to NPR's "Oakland Police Spy on Anti-War Group".

Read the San Francisco Chronicle's "OAKLAND Police spies chosen to lead war protest".

Read the ACLU of Northern California's "The State of Surveillance - Government Monitoring of Political Activity in Northern and Central California" .

Check out the ACLU's webpage The Government Is Spying on Americans for more info on

And here's a brief history lesson to the jackboots at Oakland PD and other law enforcement agencies.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

People protesting the war are exercising their fundamental, Constitutional rights. Unlike you asses who are trying to stop or intimidate people from assembling to petition the government, they're participating in our form of democracy: you're trying to undermine it. Be ashamed of yourselves, Oakland PD and police spies, in a democracy people don't spy on their neighbors for legal activities.

Categories: American, civil, liberties, privacy, risks, spying, surveillance, democracy, government

Saving orangutans in the wild

2006-08-07T12:16:00.000-05:00

Orangutans are endangered. NPR had a story on today about reintroducing orangutans to the wild. They also have a nice written summary of the story and a few photos and maps. Well worth the read and listening.

Saving Sumatra's Wild Orangutans
Wild orangutans are found in just two places on the globe: the Indonesian island of Sumatra in Southeast Asia, and in neighboring Malaysia. Some scientists believe the orangutan -- a Malay word that translates to "man of the forest" -- may soon become extinct, wiped out by the humans it so closely resembles.

Categories: orangutan, Sumatra, conservation, wildlife

If the Rubber Stamp Republicans won't stop Bush, maybe karma will

2006-08-06T16:08:00.000-05:00

This has got to fall under the category of "Gee, isn't that too bad - not!"

NSA risking electrical overload
Officials say outage could leave Md.-based spy agency paralyzed

The demand for electricity to operate its expanding intelligence systems has left the high-tech eavesdropping agency on the verge of exceeding its power supply...

...The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment, including two new supercomputers, for fear of blowing out the electrical infrastructure, they said.

At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges at the Fort Meade headquarters, hampering the work of intelligence analysts and damaging equipment, they said. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency, paralyzing the intelligence operation, erasing crucial intelligence data and causing irreparable damage to computer systems -- all detrimental to the fight against terrorism.

Let's see. Bush and Cheney crafted an Energy policy in secret that does zero to promote energy conservation or alternative energy, and now their illegal domestic spying operation may collapse for want of energy.

As the TV ads say, "Priceless."

Categories: Bush, domestic, illegal, spying, NSA, surveillance, energy

100 Days to the November 7 Election

2006-08-05T00:46:00.000-05:00

Less than 100 days to the election. Once again, Illinois might as well not even be holding an election. Where's the Illinois Democratic Party?

Anyway, we have the DNC and their 50 State Strategy to be grateful for. The DNC recognizes that it's importatnt for the citizens, as opposed to the DCCC and DSCC's big money donors, to be moving the political process along.

I'm adding the 100actions.com button to my sidebar.

Every day it will update with a do-able action that we citizens can take to help Democrats win on November 7.

Categories: citizen, politics, action, Democrat, Illinois

Chicagoans' lawsuit against AT&T for NSA domestic spying dismissed to protect widely known "state secret" and Specter's ornamental NSA hearings

2006-07-26T00:13:00.000-05:00

I suppose in the American city with 2,250 spy cameras, or 1 Municiple Spy Camera per 1208 residents, this shouldn't be disappointing but it is.

ACLU of Illinois Responds to Ruling in Terkel v. AT&T (7/25/2006)
CHICAGO, IL -- U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly today granted a motion by the United States Department of Justice to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of Chicago author Studs Terkel and other prominent Chicagoans challenging the actions of telephone giant AT&T in divulging the telephone records of its customers to the federal government without lawful authorization. The court agreed with the government's argument that the need to protect "state secrets" necessitated dismissing the lawsuit.

Kennelly's ruling is shocking after the articulate logic of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker who quite rightly pointed out in the EFF class action suit against AT&T that the public already knows about the spying and no state secrets were at risk -- but the same can't be said for Americans' liberties.

Judge's Refusal to Dismiss EFF's Spying Case Sets Stage for Congressional Showdown
Ruling Comes as Senators Consider Dramatic Changes to Surveillance Law
San Francisco - A federal judge has refused to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) case against AT&T for collaborating with the NSA in illegal spying on millions of ordinary Americans, setting the stage for a congressional showdown over proposed dramatic changes in federal surveillance law.

...The government intervened in the case and asked that it be dismissed because the suit could expose "state secrets." But Thursday, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker refused: "The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one. But dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security." (my emphasis)

When 2 District Courts can arrive at divergent positions practically simultaneously and with similar facts it drives home the uncertainty of where Bush's whole-out assault on civil liberties will end. Besides the obvious of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile Senator Arlen Specter has introduced a bill to retroactively Okie-dokie Bush's sweeping away of our liberties. Senator Durbin is against this bill. Thank goodness. But the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding hearings ~~tomorrow~~ today [ed. slow typing]. Who knows if Crocodile Tears Specter will kill our liberties in committee before the EFF and ACLU cases can be appealed. The Government can appeal in the EFFs case immediately, and the Illinois ACLU hasn't said if they'd appeal.

Senator Specter, I hope those witnesses are under oath for a change.

Categories: Chicago, Terkel, AT&T, Bush, illegal, spying, ACLU, Specter, Durbin

Just what sort of documents do you need to show and to whom to fly?

2006-07-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to post some comments on Edward Hasbrouck's blog, The Practical Nomad, but it keeps generating errors. He has an update, "Dialogue with the TSA Privacy Officer", on his experience of almost being arrested for questioning who was asking him to produce ID at the Dulles Airport. He is trying to get answers from the TSA Privacy Officer who, as another blogger put it, "does his best gladiator impersonation when confronted with legitimate privacy questions".

Here's the comments I tried to leave for Edward Hasbrouck.

Thanks for posting the continuing situation.

It looks like you were subjected to a "compliance to authority" test and then harrassed for daring to question the arbitrary exercise of real or pseudo authority.

What else can it be but arbitray when "The Great No-ID Airport Challenge" showed you don't have to produce an ID to fly if you have a reporter observing and taking notes?

I'm curious why your documents were photocopied. Isn't that a seizure without a warrant? Who has the copies, the real authority or the private party contractor? And how can you be sure you won't be a victim of identity theft with copies floating around?

TSA and the others involved in this need to answer you and the American public. Keep on them until you get the answers. Maybe your Senators or Representative can intervene for answers or at least get you in touch with the TSA "Office of Inspections".

This incident sounds like something that should be on the Papers Please website. When I went there to check if maybe it was I found this interesting page.

Be A Freedom Flier
– An IDP Investigation

Help us help you determine whether the TSA told the 9th Circuit the truth. Can you fly without ID? According to what the government told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Gilmore case, you can – you need only submit to secondary screening in order to fly anonymously.

Please try doing some or all of your travel by declining to show ID and report back about what happens to you. Our ultimate intent is to submit declarations from people such as yourself to the court and introduce hard evidence about what TSA's real policies and practices are. This would probably involve arriving an hour or so earlier in the airport than otherwise, to avoid missing planes while still determining what the rules are for ID-less travel.

Categories: civil, liberties, privacy, identification, goverment, TSA

Little steps. Many topics. A new blog post.

2006-07-20T00:15:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a blogger apparently.

There's tons of things happening to blog about, but writing doesn't come naturally to me. I have to write and edit and write and edit. I'm amazed by people who can just write a post every day. A coherent post even.

For me, it's not so easy. So then I think, I'll get around to that later.

I wonder if that's why so few people participate in the elections. They want to do a good job in casting their ballot and becoming educated on the candidates and issues takes time and effort. So they don't. Or maybe they are cynical, or turned-off, or any of the other reasons often suggested for why people don't vote.

Things on my mind that I can't seem to do justice with a full post.

The middle-east aflame and the ineffectiveness of the U.S. under Bush and the rubber stamp Republicans to do anything
Senator Specter's proposed Rubber Stamping of Bush's illegal NSA wiretapping that began before 9/11. The bill would transfer "EFF's class-action suit against AT&T...to the FISA Court of Review, a secret court with no procedures for hearing argument from anyone but the government."
Freedom Summer 2006
An essay by Ann Jones called "Notes on the Not So Brave New World" on how the terrorists cowed America
"AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours"
a Talk Left blog post about Barack Obama that quotes analysis by Digby of a brilliant speech by Honest Abe Lincoln -- read the speech and hail Abe Lincoln the genius

So little steps. One post with a few sentences. Presto. A blog post.

Categories: American, politics, Bush, illegal, spying, Specter, freedom, middle-east, general

My 4th of July tradition

2006-07-04T01:59:00.000-05:00

Every 4th of July I read the Declaration of Independence. It's a tradition. It reminds me of the bravery, idealism, pragmatism, and yearning for freedom that gave rise to the American tradition.

America has been dragged down by George Bush, his evil cronies, his corrupt administration, the Rubber Stamp Republican Congress, and the christo-facist Republican party who don't value the founding principles of this great nation. They defile words like democracy, freedom, and liberty to describe their malevolence against those very ideals. They threaten our liberties fought and paid for in blood by people greater than we are now who said "No!" to a tyrant.

But when I read these stirring words adopted 230 years ago as the Declaration of Independence my faith in the human race is renewed. Every once in a while people throw off the chains of ignorance, hatred, and fear, and become great. It's why I took part of the first line of this manifesto as my blog title: In the Course of Human Events.

To celebrate the hope and belief that humans can govern themselves, free of oppression by king or church, here's the words that inspire across the centuries.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

For more information visit the National Archives Charters of Freedom website.

Happy Fourth of July!

Categories: American, independence, government, democracy, history, hope

More pictures for those who don't get the real meaning of "Stay the Course"

2006-06-25T01:08:00.000-05:00

I'm not the only one who understands the nuance of the "Stay the Course" slogan.

The Bring It On blog offers more pictures.

Steal this poster please, and help us counter Karl Rove’s “Stay the Course” message. It’s time to fight.

Categories: Bush, Republican, stupidity, idiocy, Iraq, war, American, politics

How many secret domestic spying programs are there?

2006-06-23T05:23:00.000-05:00

Story's out! Bush is spying on financial transactions.

Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror - New York Times

WASHINGTON, June 22 - Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.

...The program, however, is a significant departure from typical practice in how the government acquires Americans' financial records. Treasury officials did not seek individual court-approved warrants or subpoenas to examine specific transactions, instead relying on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from the cooperative, known as Swift.

...That access to large amounts of sensitive data was highly unusual, several officials said, and stirred concerns inside the administration about legal and privacy issues.

...The program is separate from the National Security Agency's efforts to eavesdrop without warrants and collect domestic phone records, operations that have provoked fierce public debate and spurred lawsuits against the government and telecommunications companies.

...Officials described the Swift program as the biggest and most far-reaching of several secret efforts to trace terrorist financing. Much more limited agreements with other companies have provided access to A.T.M. transactions, credit card purchases and Western Union wire payments, the officials said.

...Nearly 20 current and former government officials and industry executives discussed aspects of the Swift operation with The New York Times on condition of anonymity because the program remains classified. Some of those officials expressed reservations about the program, saying that what they viewed as an urgent, temporary measure had become permanent nearly five years later without specific Congressional approval or formal authorization. (my emphasis)

Read the whole thing. There's more. Including supposed briefings of Congress. What is it going to take for Congress to stop this run-away power grab by the executive branch? Did they not take oaths to defend the Constitution?

Just how many secret spying programs are there?

Categories: Bush, illegal, spying, government, financial, privacy

"Stay the course" is not a strategy it's insanity

2006-06-23T00:18:00.000-05:00

I heard lots of Democrat bashing today in the media. The tired old story goes Democrats showed they're divided, let's call them down on the ground and kick them. Now whether they're down on the ground or not is yet to be seen when the electorate goes to the polls in November. Caveat: making the giant assumption the Republicans don't steal more elections.

What? No finger pointing and laughing behind their hands as the embarrasment of the Rubber Stamp Republican Congress lines up to drink their "Stay the Course" kool-aid?

For people too pea-brained to understand in words, here is S.S. Stay The Course, Captained by ~~Dick Cheney~~ George Bush, First Mate Dick Cheney, and Navigator Donald Rumsfeld.

OK? Is that clear enough?

Would some humor help? Here's an internet favorite about a story the U.S. Navy denies (hat tip to TruthOrFiction.com).

This is based on an actual radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier (U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln) and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. (The radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10/10/95 authorized by the Freedom of Information Act.)

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH--I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH--OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Keep on doing the same thing in Iraq or Change the Course! Our call.

Categories: American, politics, Congress, Democrat, 2006, election, Bush, Republican, stupidity, media, idiocy, Iraq, war

Mid June post... finally

2006-06-14T20:41:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted lately, even though many subjects have gotten me on my soapbox at home, because I've been incredibly busy. So here's a few things that are on my mind.

Marvel comics has made the news lately with its Civil War comics. I'm not into comics, but this has intrigued me and every time I read or hear about it I want to go out and buy some.

Here's some of my bookmarks that I never got around to posting on.

There's more I could write about, but no time.

Categories: american, politics

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 8:41:00 pm

The Onion reveals Bush Presidential Super Powers invoked

2006-06-01T09:28:00.000-05:00

Listen to President Bush invokes Presidential Super Powers.

Categories: Bush, American, politics, humor

Thoughts on Frontline's "The Age of AIDS"

2006-05-30T23:10:00.000-05:00

I'm watching a PBS Frontline show on AIDS called "The Age of AIDS". It's showing how the world responded to the AIDS crisis. It begins with the first mysterious occurrences of opportunistic infections associated with AIDS and how scientists tried to figure it out. Uganda responded with a prevention program (think it was TOSA but can't find a link). Thailand promoted condom use among sex workers. The UK responded with a needle exchange program.

Meanwhile in America, needle exchange programs were outlawed and Jesse Helms was huffing and puffing on the Senate floor about "Christian" sensibilities being offended because an activist sponsored educational program spoke frankly about gay sex. According to this show, some goofball law Helms shoved through the Congress about not funding AIDS prevention programs that mention homosexual acts is still on the books.

This is why mixing religion into the realms where reason and science should prevail is nuts!

What the heck is wrong with America? Ben Franklin the quintessential American said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Part Two of this show airs tomorrow.

Categories: American, politics, healthcare, AIDS, religion

Judge unseals some documents in EFF's lawsuit, other documents posted online, and Rep. Schakowsky asks AT&T for answers

2006-05-26T00:29:00.000-05:00

I'll write more about most of this later.

The judge unsealed part of the documents in EFF's lawsuit against AT&T.

Key Portions of Critical Documents Unsealed in AT&T Surveillance Case
Technician Describes Secret NSA Room at AT&T Facility
San Francisco - AT&T has set up a secret, secure room for the NSA in at least one of the company's facilities -- a room into which AT&T has been diverting its customers' emails and other Internet communications in bulk -- according to evidence in key documents partially unsealed today in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against the telecom giant.

"Now the public can see firsthand the testimony of Mark Klein, a former AT&T employee who was brave enough to step forward and provide evidence of the company's illegal collaboration with the NSA," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Today we have released some of the evidence supporting our allegation that AT&T has given the NSA direct access to its fiber-optic network, such that the NSA can read the email of anyone and everyone it chooses -- all without a warrant or any court supervision, and in clear violation of the law."

Wired News posted the AT&T whistleblower documents online. It was on the news Wednesday. There's a blog on it at the Huffington Post.

Illinois' 9th Congressional Representative Jan Schakowsky demands answers from AT&T. Now if only the rest of our Democratic Representatives and Senators would do the same.

Categories: EFF, AT&T, lawsuit, Bush, illegal, spying, Schakowsky