Do Our Liberal Gun Laws Make you Feel Safer?
We all see it in the news everyday. We grow numb to the violence that we’ve become accustomed to. With the latest mass shooting in Binghamton NY, mass shootings since the beginning of the year have resulted in 53 dead in 7 separate shootings. And the fear doesn’t stop with some random act of a deranged murderer starting a rampage of revenge. The Mexican drug wars are spilling their violence in the U.S., using guns legally purchased here in America by straw purchasers hard up on their luck. And now Obama is feeling the heat from 62 Congressional Democrats who have told Obama they can't back him on his campaign promise to renew the assault weapons ban. And the Federal Credit Card bill? Be careful on your next trip to a National Park because the tourists may be packing heat!
What do we do about it? There are plenty of places to start. And public officials need to stand up to the powerful gun lobby that keeps meaningful and reasonable policies from reigning in our liberal gun laws that provide no retribution to those selling guns and ammunition to others with no right to bear them. It’s time to get more conservative and preserve the 2nd amendment right for those entitled to exercise it properly. (Note: Although there is still much debate on the interpretation of the Second Amendment, I am working under the assumption that it does exist because of the recent Supreme Court Decision striking down the gun ban in Washington, DC. John Massaro, NY, is coming out with a book this July that further challenges this premise).
And what do our state and federal legislatures propose? Gun-toting everywhere! Guns-on-demand advocates snuck through an amendment to the National Credit Card overhaul bill to allow guns in National Parks, and states like mine (TX) are close to passing legislation allowing guns on college campuses. More proliferation of guns without more responsibility of owners AND sellers will only breed more violence. I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and there’s no doubt that guns are part of our heritage and way of life. My husband and I own guns, both for self defense and sport. Many in the southern states have an inherent mistrust of the federal government, as some of their cities endured Martial Law and other atrocities during the War between the States. The western states have a frontier culture that has relied on vigilante protection for simple justice during the last 2 centuries. Relinquishing some of your and your family’s protection to others isn’t always easy for some people, but there’s got to be a better way to protect legitimate ownership and use of deadly weapons and ensuring to the public that those acquiring the weapons are legally entitled to do so. So here’s my take on the situation and ways that we can make our gun policies more conservative by tightening up on the illegal acquisition of guns many times purchased legally.
In my opinion, guns have one of three purposes: 1) Sustenance (hunting our dinner!), 2) Sport (hunting and gun collecting is a way of life for many), and 3) Self-Defense (the right to protect ourselves from harm’s way). But regardless of what I think, the 2nd amendment protects our right to bear arms, but owning street sweepers and AK 47’s crosses the line for an individual purpose. But one thing I do get tired of is that lack of open dialogue regarding gun responsibility and accountability and intolerant opinions that stifle true debate on the many issues confronting our communities to date: such as the proliferation of “mass weapons of destruction” and the pervasive degree of violence plaguing most of our cities. Below you’ll find 5 myths about guns that I’d like to dispel, as I’m sure these are all arguments that you’ve heard over and over again:
1) Myth # 1: Guns have played a large part in American history outside of war, as settlers of the frontier had to rely on them for a rudimentary form of vigilante justice.Reality: That role has been exaggerated. Robert Spitzer, Professor of Political Science, SUNY Cortland, comments in a book review of Alexander DeConde’s “Gun Violence in America,” that ….strict gun laws existed even in colonial America…and….were quickly enacted in newly established frontier towns during the nineteenth century, and they were widely debated in the 1920s and 1930s during Prohibition and the meteoric rise in gangster activity. DeConde notes in his book that the number of guns during colonial times was far less than legend would have it. "English colonists did bring firearms with them for self-defense as well as for offense," but they "also brought the practice of restricting gun keeping, usually to selected upper-class males" (p. 17) The scarcity of firearms in America was attributable to some obvious facts, including that they were expensive (guns were either made by hand in America, or imported from abroad), were made of materials that deteriorated rapidly, meaning that they had to be constantly serviced and maintained; required considerable skill to master; required maintenance after relatively few firings; and required firing materials that were also difficult to come by and that had short shelf lives. During the Revolutionary War, 80 percent of all firearms and 90 percent of the needed powder had to be imported from France and Holland. In the early 1790s, Secretary of War Henry Knox concluded that only about 20 percent of the nation's 450,000 militiamen carried firearms. Of the government-owned stock of 44,000 muskets, half were didn’t even work. The difficulty in affording and obtaining firearms during the 18th and 19th centuries contrasts sharply with the ability to obtain cheap firearms made in China like they were toys.
Myth # 2: We need the 2nd Amendment’s Right to Bear Arms to protect our freedoms and the rest of the Constitution. Reality: Why isn’t it working?Contemporary times have seen many of our constitutional rights erode, and none of our Bill of Rights should individually be upheld in a vacuum. 9-11 has seen a drastic emphasis on National Security, sometimes at the expense of our individual rights. Over half of our Bill of Rights relates to due process, and the following amendments in my opinion are in dire jeopardy of further erosion:
First Amendment – freedom of speech is abridged every day with school censorship, and workers trying to organize unions are denied their constitutional rights to free assembly.
Fourth Amendment – illegal searches and seizures are now commonplace! Congress just overwhelmingly passed the FISA bill allowing for warrant less wiretapping of our phone conversations (yes, “ours”), and the Supreme Court recently ruled that the long-standing “knock and announce” practice by police before searching a home is no longer necessary. I recently had a headlight out on my car that may have been out for weeks, and my husband pointed out to me that a non-working headlight is actually probable cause for a police search of a vehicle without a warrant. Probable cause? How can a missing headlight prompt and invasive search of me and my vehicle?
Sixth Amendment – better hope you’re a US citizen if you end up in Guantanamo Bay, as people rot in jail for years without formal charges being filed! It’s a shame that what applies to us as citizens, like basic human rights, gets denied to those who can’t call themselves an “American.” I hate double standards.
Seventh Amendment – the right to a trial by jury by your peers in civil matters is almost non-existent in some states, thanks to “conservative” efforts commonly known as “tort reform.” The saying “he’ll have is day in court” is becoming a euphemism, as more and more people are being shoved into “binding arbitration” as a way of settling disputes, with little recourse if you’ve been wronged. The courts were meant to be an avenue to seek justice, but our access to the courts is being denied every day by those who see “litigation” as a nuisance. The threat of a lawsuit has long been a deterrent to keep individuals and corporations from doing the wrong thing, which they can now do with impunity.Yes, we’ve all heard that the Second Amendment protects “freedom” and our “way of life,” but where is the Second Amendment in protecting these rights disappearing before our eyes? During the 2000 elections in Florida when thousands of Floridians were denied the right to vote, can you imagine if they had whipped out guns to protect their right to vote? Riots could have gotten pretty bloody, especially with racial tensions at an all-time high during this large-scale voting rights controversy.
Myth # 3: We already have enough gun laws, we just need to enforce the ones on the books. Reality: Illegal “possession” is meaningless without illegal “acquisition.” It’s kind of ironic to me that guns-on-demand advocates use as a defense existing gun laws, when they fought what laws we have every step of the way! But aside from that hypocrisy, let’s look at what’s wrong with it being perfectly legal for you to sale your gun to someone without the legal right to carry a firearm, namely the mentally ill, a convicted felon, or a minor. Some people in our society don’t possess the right to bear arms if they meet one of these 3 conditions, and our liberal gun laws allow them to access guns on a daily basis through perfectly legal means. For every 10 people in this country, there is a gun for 9 of them. Maybe I’m just traveling in the wrong circles, but it seems to me that more than 10 % of the people in this country are under 18, mentally ill, or a convicted felon. In fact, one out of 5 Texans possesses a criminal record, but that’s a story for another debate. More conservative gun laws would attach a level of financial and/or criminal responsibility to those who sold their guns to someone without the legal right to bear them. The NRA has studies that show the average homicide is committed with a gun that is 6 years old. Registration at point of purchase is meaningless, since most guns are sold in the secondary market. Back to the illegal “possession” and the fourth amendment. Now, for law enforcement to get someone on an illegal weapons charge, they sometimes have to “bend” the fourth amendment right against illegal searches and seizures to find “probable cause” for a warrantless search. It’s even happened to a family member of mine (who had a chain in the back of his pickup truck characterized as a “weapon”). I’d rather keep my fourth amendment and tighten up on people legally purchasing a gun if they don’t have the legal right to bear it.
Myth # 4: The Government will confiscate your guns if you register them. Reality: Watch out for the politicians undermining your 4th Amendment, NOT your 2nd Amendment!It seems ironic to me that, the politicians that ostensibly claim to want to protect your 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms give such little regard for this OTHER Bill of Right to so critical guard against exactly what most gun rights advocates fear about registration: Confiscation. Yes, Hitler confiscated guns that were registered in Germany, and no, they didn’t have a Bill of Rights. But pick the right one to protect here! If we want to instill true responsibility with gun ownership and ensure that guns aren’t sold to those with no legal right to carry them, then transferring legal “title” to the gun upon transfer, much like transferring title to your car, which can also be a deadly weapon, will help protect you from liability upon sale as well as the public. Sure registration carries risks. But so does sex. Does that stop people from risky behavior?
Myth # 5: Only criminals will possess guns of you require registration and law abiding citizens won’t have access!Reality: Criminals legally acquire guns now, and why is that? Criminals SHOULD only get guns through criminal means if they’re going to get them at all! Franklin D. Roosevelt's attorney general, Homer Cummings, said in 1937, "Show me the man who does not want his gun registered, and I will show you a man who should not have a gun." Being from the South, I do understand an inherent distrust with an autocratic, overreaching government. Southern cities were put under Marshall Law, and we in the South value states rights to avoid an overzealous Federal Government. But we don’t have anywhere close to a balance. If a criminal gets a gun, it SHOULD be done illegally and not through legal channels as they do now. The status quo is anarchy, and yes transferring title might seem bureaucratic, but I want the assurance that those acquiring guns have the legal right to do so. That’s NOT too much to expect, and counties could charge an at-cost fee of $ 15 or so to cover the background check when transferring title. Besides helping assure the public that only law-abiding citizens are acquiring guns, gun title will attach a level of financial responsibility as well as the criminal responsibility to gun ownership that to date has been lacking. If a gun you own is used in the commission of a crime whether you pulled the trigger or not, then taxpayers can seek restitution from irresponsible gun owners who can’t keep track of their possessions that are dangerous in the wrong hands. Gun violence costs taxpayers billions of dollars in the form of police costs, court costs, and incarceration costs. Taxpayers should be able to place a lien on property to reimburse taxpayers for irresponsible gun ownership (any relatives living in a homestead could be protected as long as they’re living in the house). If your gun(s) is/are stolen, you can be given a window to report your weapons missing for protection from liability. Also, without legal title to the guns, burglars and drug addicts won’t be able to sell the weapons to pawn shops, etc. Will taxpayers recoup that much money? Probably not, but John Hinckley, attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan, comes from a family perfectly capable of footing at least part of the taxpayers’ bill incarcerating him. It can be a feature exercised in instances such as these to at least recoup part of the billions we spend each year incarcerating the guilty, insane, and irresponsibles in our midst. Gun title will also attach a level of responsibility to the seller, who to date has been able to skirt out of any culpability in selling to ill-fit individuals.This leads us to a discussion about the mentally ill, a serious problem with their ready access to firearms and ammunition. States should send data of the mentally ill to the federal database to keep them from passing background checks on purchases. States such as Texas are flat-out wrong to not participate in providing that data, even after we’ve seen our own university massacre resulting from a deranged individual’s legal access to weapons.
Myth No. 6: The threat of a lifetime in jail or the electric chair will deter enraged individuals from committing mass murder.Reality: These deranged individuals usually commit suicide when they’re done with their rampage anyway, so there’s no deterrent incentive.This takes us back to carrying gun title and the taxpayer’s right to attach liens on any existing assets the murderer may own to reimburse the public for the tremendous societal costs. Maybe there’s nothing we can do about a dead gunman. But the public CAN do something about the person or store equipping an ill-fit individual with the instruments that can cause so much damage in the wrong hands.
No one has all the answers to help us address these serious questions of public safety and their relation to balancing our individual rights, but thoughtful dialogue free from rote, rehearsed responses is the only way for us to come together and tackle this serious issue. Gun violence in this country does NOT have to be tolerated to the level it’s at, and we can still give people their guns if they want them. Just make them criminally AND financially responsible when they’re used irresponsibly and/or criminally, even when they cross the border, and we’ll see serious changes that save thousands of lives and millions of taxpayers’ dollars.
Greetings fellow Obama Supporters!
I trust that you are all doing well, and that you continue to support PRESIDENT OBAMA in his efforts to deliver on the promises he made during the 2008 Campaign. For the latest examples, have a look at an outstanding example of transparency just released today: Data.gov. This and other resources are always available on the the White House website.
On this topic of transparency in our government, I'm sure you've heard about the new legislation passed by Congress to improve fairness for consumers with respect to Credit Card providers. I hope you are also aware that the NRA and their political bloc managed to insert an addendum to this bill that has absolutely NOTHING to do with consumer lending practices. The addendum was to reverse a previous legal statute that prohibits carrying concealed weapons within our National Parks.
THIS is an outrageous example of the same OLD political process, concealing the work of special interests and hijacking the legislative process to achieve a goal that would not be achievable in an "open" process. Our democratic process will only survive if we take an active role in OUR government. WE must hold our legislators accountable to be sure that our representative government is truly representing US!
Stephen Views the News 12/13/08
http://stephenviewsthenews.blogspot.com/
* The ineptitude of impetuousness meets the gall of arrogance – The U.S. government has provided over $150 billion to American International Group (AIG) to bail the mega-insurer out of financial paralysis due to risky, stupid, secretive and greedy decisions. It is estimated that the U.S. now owns almost 80% of the company. One would surmise that a representative of government would now be involved in AIG decision making to protect our investment in the firm. Apparently that is not the case. AIG has proposed “retention payments” to 38 top executives that range in amounts from $92,500 to $4 million. These retention payments would in some cases double or triple the salary of some of these managers. A responsible person might ask why pay limited and borrowed resources to retain the “brain” trusts that created this financial disaster. Rather than spend money to retain them they should be fired. Let them join the unemployment lines of people worried sick about how they will support their families, the innocents who were not responsible for the current financial implosion. Rewarding dishonesty and incompetence brought us to this financial brink. Its continuation is not a solution.
* Our financial world ~ what in the name of greed and stupidity happened? – Many people are asking how the U.S. got into the financial mess/disaster confronting us. I suggest one take the time to read the analysis of one of the preeminent economists of our day, Joseph Stiglitz. His article “Capitalist Fools” in the January 2009 edition of Vanity Fair lists the five reasons why we are in an economic crisis. They include:
~ Regan’s firing of FED Chairman Paul Volker and naming Alan Greenspan to the post in 1987
~ Deregulating the financial markets beginning in 1997
~ The Bush tax cuts and artificially low interest rates
~ Every major accounting firm and most of the banks lied about financial conditions
~ The government’s response to the financial crisis
This is a must read for anyone interested in what happened and a lesson for not repeating history, again.
* The golden years just became brighter! - Two new studies point to a way to fight Alzheimer’s Disease, red wine and marijuana. Researchers from Ohio State University reported that THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, may reduce inflammation in the brain and even stimulate the formation of new brain cells. Neurologist David Teplow of UCLA reported that polyphenols - naturally occurring components of red wine - block the formation of proteins that build the toxic plaques thought to destroy brain cells. In addition, these substances can reduce the toxicity of existing plaques, thus reducing cognitive deterioration. Now, if I could only remember where the hell I put my bong!
*Recession or Depression? – Forget the economic mumbo jumbo, statistics and graphs. If the guy next door has lost his job it is a recession. If you have lost your job it is a depression. And if you follow the White House and Congress’ attempt to fix the financial problems, that are primarily of their making, it is depressing. From one election to the next we tend to forget the egregious actions of our politicians. It is time to take notes so we do not forget. We elected these people and must now deal with the blisters! (see Abraham Lincoln’s observation at the end of this blog.)
* The macho NRA is loosing tumescence – The National Rifle Association (NRA), in one respect a lobbyist for gun manufacturers, is experiencing its influence waning. In the most recent election the “gun rights” mouthpiece spent over $7 million in a national fear campaign to defeat Barack Obama and other candidates in favor of gun control. NRA-endorsed candidates lost 80 percent of their races against gun-control candidates. Looking at the obverse side of the debate, The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, an organization I strongly support, saw more than 90 percent of the candidates it endorsed win their races.
Our country is about to change many approaches as to how it thinks and does business and that includes its viewpoint towards guns. It is well-beyond time the canard about Second Amendment rights for citizens to bear arms be put to rest. This amendment was instituted centuries ago when militias were an important element in the defense of the U.S. The number of guns that exist in our country, governed by archaic laws and control, is absurd. No other western industrialized society allows for such a condition. When an organization such as the NRA lobbies for assault weapons to be owned by private citizens, what more does one need to know? When the NRA fights a city such as Philadelphia that has attempted to limit gun ownership so that citizens and police are not cut down at an alarming rate it is time for responsible government leadership to set intelligent guidelines for gun control. For a better understanding of the issues I recommend a visit to The Brady Campaign.
* Make love, not war ~ world peace through tumescence – The third annual Global Orgasm is about to take place. The organizers of the Global Orgasm, evolutionary behaviorists Donna Sheehan and Paul Reffell, would like everyone to synchronize their greatest surge of physical and spiritual power on the Solstice, December 21st between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time. The theory is that if enough people can experience orgasm in the same time frame while projecting a conscious intention for peace and harmony on the planet, a surge of physical and spiritual positivity will infuse the Earth's energy field. Count me in!
* Conservatively speaking – Since the financial crisis began conservative pundits have tried to blame the mortgage part of the crisis on programs designed to help poor people become homeowners. It was not the greed of the financial industry, it was not the lack of federal regulation, it was the liberal do-gooders. This week the House Oversight Committee interviewed four former CEOs of Freddie and Fannie Mae. They were asked if poor people caused the current financial crisis. They all responded that it was not. Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said that 400,000 documents amassed by the committee showed that the right-wing claim is nothing more than a conservative myth. Conservative thinkers and politicians are so busy running from the wreckage of their policies that alibis and urban myths substitute for veracity. And this is not intended to give a free pass to the Democrats. Deregulation began in the Clinton White House and some of these people are currently advising Barack Obama. It is a pause for concern.
* Legacy 43 – President Bush and his emissaries are making the rounds promoting a fairy tale story line about what Bush’s legacy should be. The Center for Public Integrity (CPI), a non-profit investigative journalism group, studied the Bush presidency. An article about the study is entitled, “Depth of Bush Failures Surprised Even Us.” On the ability of the Bush administration to get things done the study noted: 730,000 backlogged patent applications, 760,000 backlogged Social Security disability claims, and 806,000 backlogged Veterans Affairs disability claims.
“The results of the investigation, which are summarized at CPI's PaperTrail blog and presented in full at its Broken Government project, are stunning in their scope even for those who have been following the scandals of the last eight years.” Some of the more notable elements of Bush’s real legacy include:
~ $300 billion over budget for Defense Department weapons acquisitions
~ $100 billion lost every year to corporate offshore tax shelters
~ complete failure of a $100 million attempt to create a new system of internal information-sharing for the FBI in the wake of 9/11
~ $9.91 billion spent on government secrecy in 2007
~ the dismissal of all but 17 out of the 1273 whistleblower complaints filed from 2002 to 2008
~ pollution that causes 20,000 deaths a year and puts 60,000 newborns at risk of neurological problems
~ a two-thirds dropoff in the cleanup of toxic waste sites, and 2.5 million toxic toys recalled in the summer of 2007
“Toxic waste site” could be one description of the condition of the United States as Bush leaves office and that, unfortunately for the American people, is the George W. Bush Legacy.
* “Elections belong to the people. It is their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”Abraham Lincoln
Dear Friends:
To those of you who so kindly congratulated me for Tuesday’s election outcome, as if Barack Obama’s victory resulted from my personal and deeply committed efforts. I thank you for your generous comments.
To those who may have wondered how I fared in “radio silence” for six weeks on the Ohio battleground. Be assured that I survived.
To those who do not know me or are unfamiliar with my previous descriptions of the realities and ironies of the 2008 election. What follows is the final chapter of my life as a political activist, a missionary for democracy, an apostle of Change. Hopefully you will also understand how it is that for the first three nights after I returned home I woke up from the same dream in which I wander nameless streets in search of faceless voters.
The Buckeye State
On September 23 I joined the Ohio Campaign for Change as a member of its newly created Vote Corps. The invitation had warned of 14-hour days, seven days a week, right up through Election Day. I accepted because the Obama campaign considered this important enough to make it a paid position and because it was in the one state McCain had to win to become President.
I left home certain that my life experiences -- in retail sales, as diplomat and political officer, and Obama volunteer in seven states – would be useful in the Buckeye State. Stopping at Starbucks on the way out of Burlington that Sunday morning, I noticed the first trace of red on the outer edge of a leaf on a small maple tree in the parking lot. I realized that by the time I returned to Vermont the leaf peepers would have come and gone. Fortunately, it turned out to be a mild autumn in Ohio that showcased the Buckeye State’s own colorful foliage.
The Akron Vote Corps
A hundred of us reported to Columbus for Vote Corps training and by the first night we were already deployed across the state. I was assigned to the city of Akron, birthplace of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and Pretenders’ singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde, who wrote about her birthplace in “My City Was Gone”. The Akron Campaign for Change Office was headed by Regional Field Director Max Lesko. In charge of Summit and Portage Counties, he proved himself a very capable and genial manager. My hosts, Cathy and David, and their daughter Nicky, lived in a northwest suburb. Their friendship and cozy accommodations would be my home for the next six weeks.
At first the Akron Vote Corps consisted of six whites, from metropolitan DC, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas and California. Like most of the Obama staff and volunteers I met during the primaries, they were young and well-educated. In fact, I was two-and-a-half times their average age. By the end of the second week we lost one and gained five new members. Our new team-mates were all African Americans, from California, Texas and Georgia. Their average age was early forties and many had worked on the Kerry campaign. One of my first initiatives was to buy half a dozen fingerless gloves for our new friends from the warm weather states. Our Vote Corps was rounded out by a “Lead,” a young lawyer from Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s Washington staff.
The Vote Corps’ mission was to register voters, identify supporters and get out the vote for Barack Obama. Our primary targets were “Sporadics,” first time voters and people who voted Democratic in the past, but did not always turn out. For a while we were also instructed to knock on every single door in a targeted neighborhood. I successfully resisted attempts to create competition within our group for most doors knocked, “Doors” being the campaign’s primary measure for the work accomplished by staff and volunteers. My feeling was that competition focused on this imperfect metric would distort our effort, demoralize some members of our group, and sacrifice quality for quantity. For in the end, the real measure of our success would be the vote count on Election Day. And to that end, it was our diligence after the “knock” that would help determione the outcome.
Registration
Our first task was registering new voters and re-registering people who had moved before the deadline of October 6. We knocked on doors and scoured bus stops and other public places to register as many people as possible. Most people were already registered, as they clearly understood the importance of this election. Those who had not yet done so enthusiastically signed up, particularly in the African-American community. My first Saturday in Akron, I missed my first grandchild’s first birthday party back in Virginia. But my reward on that day was registering many first-time voters, including former felons who had recently regained the rights of other free men and women.
Many of our Sporadics were transients who frequently moved from one run-down Akron neighborhood to another. This city was in decline for a long time, and the recent economic downturn just aggravated conditions. In older residential neighborhoods there are a growing number of abandoned homes or houses soon to be vacated due to lost jobs or foreclosure. Many porches are marked by hand-painted signs announcing “Copper Already Stolen” or littered with trash by people who have given up. It is in this environment that we spread our message of Hope and Change.
Starting on September 30, we entered “golden week” when voters could both register and vote early. Ohio’s new rules allowed “no fault” early voting by absentee ballot or in person. A single polling place was created for Summit County at the Job Center in northeast Akron. The Job Center is well-known, because job losses have been ongoing for many years. The building, also known by locals as “the old library,” is next to another landmark, the County’s Auto Title Office. For those without cars, bus number 12 took people there from downtown in 15 minutes.
Early Voting
Registration and early voting at the Job Center was very convenient. Open every day, including Saturday and Sunday, there were 50 polling booths and seating for voters waiting for their paper ballots. But many Ohioans, especially African Americans disenfranchised in previous elections were suspicious. They worried that ballots were going to “disappear,” as reportedly happened in 2004 in Cuyahoga County. Overcoming these legitimate concerns required some persuasion. Our most important argument was: “Barack Obama wants his supporters to vote early.” That usually did it. We helped to spread the word that this process would protect, not suppress voting rights. And by November 3, the daily early vote turnout had grown from hundreds to thousands, the wait from 15 minutes to three hours.
By my third week I had developed a routine for creating a multiplier effect in conversation with early voters. Once they had made an Early Vote Commit, I introduced community organizing techniques to build on the widespread desire to help Obama get elected. Within the family, a grandparent or parent, or maybe the principal driver would agree to take responsibility for getting the entire household to vote early. I also encouraged voters to take along a relative or friend, or a neighbor who needed a ride.
Finally, I would make the following pitch:
“I’m working for Obama and I want you to work for him too. So I’m going to deputize you. No badge, no pay, just the satisfaction of knowing you helped to elect Barack Obama."
That always earned a smile. Then I continued:
"Now I'm sure you know someone who wouldn’t vote unless you drag their lazy a-- to the Job Center to vote. Do you know anyone like that?”
I could tell when they were hooked. Eyes turned skyward. Faces revealed minds thinking of who they would get to early vote. A knowing smile indicated they knew exactly who they would take along. In closing I urged them to let everyone know how easy it was to vote at the Job Center and that Obama wanted them to do so. By the time I left their door, the early voter had been empowered and had taken ownership of the Obama campaign. Now it was their campaign too.
Get Out The Vote
During our last week in Ohio, the Vote Corps was dissolved. We were detailed to assist Field Organizers with their neighborhood teams of volunteers, which were part of the Ohio get out the vote (GOTV) strategy at the precinct level.
I was assigned to Barberton to work for Sol, an energetic field organizer from Texas. My main “turf” was the south Akron neighborhood of Kenmore. Unlike my earlier work with Sporadics in largely African American neighborhoods, I was instructed to “persuade” and “motivate” the remaining “Undecided” voters. But with Election Day closing in fast, there would only be minutes to talk to any single voter.
In Barberton and Kenmore, the Undecideds were predominantly white, working class Democrats. Most did not want to vote for McCain, but were not yet sure about Barack Obama. I understood their concern. Not only was Obama a relatively new and unknown political personality. Most of these voters had supported Hillary in the March primary. And like voters elsewhere, they were being bombarded with smear emails, Republican mailings about Ayers and NRA propaganda warning Obama would take away their guns.
With openly racist voters there was the curt “Thanks for your time.” But it was not difficult to pull the other undecided voters off the fence, especially with the credibility of being an older white man with a knowledge of history and 23 years of federal service under five US Presidents. These voters knew that Obama and Hillary shared a common policy agenda and that she was campaigning hard for the Democratic ticket. They also recognized Rove tactics and our argument that: “They can’t win with the truth, so they are attacking him with lies.” Second amendment concerns were easily neutralized with Biden’s quote: “No one’s taking away my Beretta.” But the simplest most effective argument was “Are you happy with the way things are going or do you want change?” And Change is what voters wanted more than anything this year.
Election Day
November 3rd and 4th were taken up with the final GOTV effort, primarily distributing door hangers and reminding voters of their polling places. From 3:30 pm on Election Day until it was too dark to read house numbers, I scoured for remaining undecided voters who had yet to cast their ballots. I actually found several and they agreed to go to their local poll station, which by then was no longer crowded.
I was at the Barberton volunteers’ party at Lake Anna Hall when MSNBC announced Ohio for Obama. Having already won Pennsylvania, I knew it was all over except for reaching 270 electoral votes. While happy, I was so physically and mentally exhausted that the victory did not seem real. I headed back to my host family home and watched the candidates’ speeches before turning in and resting for the long drive home. Now as my dreams of knocking on doors in Ohio recede, the enormity of our achievement and the challenges facing Barack Obama are coming into better focus. I have no idea what my next step will be, but I will continue to do what I can to get our country back on the right track.
Epilogue
After 40 days of walking the streets of Summit County, I had knocked on or distributed campaign literature at over 4000 doors.
More importantly, I had in-person conversations with more than 1500 voters and obtained about 1000 Early Vote Commits, which probably understates the number of people who were convinced to go to the Job Center. Along the way I also helped remove several hundred bad addresses from our “Turf,” easing the task of later attempts by volunteers to find our voters.
The Akron Vote Corps’ effort over five weeks contributed greatly to the early vote turnout, which by Election Day totaled 90,000, or fully one-third of the 272,000 ballots cast in Summit County. And while he won Ohio’s 20 electoral votes with 51% of the state’s popular vote, Barack Obama won Summit County with 57.45%.
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Subject: Doctors and Guns> Doctors:> (A) The number of Doctors in the U.S. is 700,000.> (B) Accidental deaths caused by Doctors per year are 120,000.> (C) Accidental deaths per Doctor is 0.171.>> Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health Human Services.>> Now think about this:>> Guns:> (A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that's 80 million)> (B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.> (C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .00018>> Statistics courtesy of FBI>> So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times> more dangerous than gun owners.>> Remember, 'Guns don't kill people, doctors do.'>> FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT> LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Stephen Views the News 9/24/08
* The real Reality Show - You get home after a long day, enter your house and find that the TV, stereo, jewelry and paintings are gone. You stagger for a moment and then reach for the telephone to call the police. Before you can dial, a voice from behind you says, ”Put the phone down and raise your hands. I still want everything that is left in your wallet.” Welcome to Wall Street, Bush Boulevard and Paulson Highway to Up Yours – I’ve Got Mine. The financial industry bailout proposals this week by the Bush administration made the Savings and Loan failures of the late 1980’s look as harmless as a broken piggy bank.
The bailout proposals being discussed will cost taxpayers amounts so far projected to be between $700 billion and $1.8 trillion. The initial Bush plan proposes that the Secretary of the Treasury, an unelected official, would administer the funds with no congressional or court oversight, his decisions can never be questioned or reviewed by any authoritative body and there will be no penalties for the previous actions of the Wall Street bandits. This next part is a classic: if financial industry executive compensation is restricted, it would be a deal breaker. Bush and Paulson then dust off the Iraq invasion marketing campaign: FEAR. Accept this proposal immediately because if we delay there will be a mushroom cloud over Wall Street.
As the crook takes the money from your wallet the police arrive, having been alerted by your silent alarm. The first thing they do is sit everyone down at the kitchen table and serve coffee and Cheese Danish. Then they let the perpetrator walk away with your TV, stereo, jewelry, paintings, cash and a wink.
Update: After Paulson was excoriated by Republicans, Democrats, the media, and public watchdog organizations for requesting a bailout plan with no oversight by anyone but himself he has changed his tune. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee Paulson said, “I didn’t suggest oversight in the bailout plan because that would be presumptuous.” This is in contrast to almost every other sentient being who feels the plan as a whole is presumptuous. And, Paulson perjured himself when he made this statement. Paulson’s plan released last weekend explicitly denied any review at all of his actions: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” What else would one expect from a Bush appointee but lies and arrogance?
* King Bush does cares about his subjects ~ at least the Barons of Industry – He is treating the greed-bloated conniving crooks and manipulators on Wall Street as if they were his close buds at Exxon Mobil, Hess, Chevron et al ad nausea. Run your businesses in a manner that will suck every dollar possible from the consumer, function with inadequate oversight toward the common good, be protected by the government regardless of the offense and if you get in trouble the taxpayer will cover your ass. And who is the taxpayer bailing out? “In 2007, Wall Street’s five biggest firms — Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley — paid a record $39 billion in bonuses to themselves... Those 2007 bonuses were paid even though the shareholders in those firms last year collectively lost about $74 billion in stock declines — their worst year since 2002.” But then again, George is not big on accountability.
*The sound of silence – There is one benefit to the financial crisis. Republicans have finally shut up about their flagship demand for free and unregulated markets. Abject failure will do that to soapbox charlatans.
* Ka-ching – One would think that with the billions of dollars lost by financial institutions there would be no resources left for political contributions. Wrong again! The LA Times is reporting that contributions from financial companies and their lobbyists to Obama amount to $22.5 million and to McCain $19.6 million. Additionally, the industry has given heavily to members of the congressional committees in charge of legislation and the bailout. Recall a previous time in American history when the battle cry was “No taxation without representation?” Can you say, “Public financing of elections?”
* Derriere Orifice of the Week 1 ~ and maybe the month – “Neil Cavuto, host of Fox News' Your World, conflated giving home mortgages to minorities with risky lending practices, suggesting that efforts to increase homeownership among minority borrowers contributed to financial problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” I am not sure if he is just stupid or a stupid racist. For those of us who are not challenged intellectually or morally, here is what did occur: “But even if 100 percent of bad debt had been produced by people of color, the reason for the financial collapse is that debt was chopped up and marketed as mortgage-backed securities to financial institutions all over the world. If the debt hadn't been sold, making many people very rich, the bad debt wouldn't have been integrated into the rest of the financial system and it would have just led to the collapse of the original institutions providing mortgages. In other words, it wasn't the debt itself; it was the very lucrative selling of the debt that got us where we are today.” Conservatives using white resentment as a political tool may have worked for Ronald Regan and George Bush but, I for one resent it. Mr. Cavuto, FOX you.
* “Good” is a relative concept –On Friday night I spilled a glass of 2005 Cline Zinfandel with dark fruit flavors on myself. It was a result of laughing at NY Times columnist David Brooks’ comment during PBS’ News Hour. He commented that Bush has had a pretty good past 3 years. Excuuuuuuse meeeee! If one considers that Bush has not been impeached, imprisoned or institutionalized for incompetence one can say he has had a pretty good 3 years. If one considers the state of our country…
* Poor judgment or dishonesty? – McCain’s campaign manager is Rick Davis, a lobbyist who fought regulation of financial institutions. This week McCain was adamant that Davis had no involvement with mortgage giant Freddie Mac for the last several years and said, “I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.” The NY Times and Newsweek did look at it. Until last month mortgage giant Freddie Mac paid a firm owned by Davis $15,000 per month. The payments stopped when the federal government took over Freddie.
David Donnelly, director of the watchdog group Campaign Money Watch, said: "John McCain's campaign manager and Freddie Mac essentially had a secret half a million dollar lay-a-way plan. For almost three years, they made secret, monthly payments of $15,000 to Rick Davis for apparently no other work than for him to provide special access to a future McCain White House in exchange. If McCain knew about this, his presidential campaign should be over. If he didn't know about it, he ought to fire Rick Davis immediately."
* Shooting from the lip – In recent years the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Republican Party have bonded like a high-power scope on a sniper rifle. “The NRA is circulating printed material and running TV ads making unsubstantiated claims that Obama plans to ban use of firearms for home defense, ban possession and manufacture of handguns, close 90 percent of gun shops and ban hunting ammunition.” At the above link you can see details of how disingenuous these claims are as well as how the ad is designed to appear to be coming from the Obama campaign. Watching the world of politics and governance leaves one with a soiled feeling. It is the reason that most of us would rather watch Dancing with the Stars than a bunch of power hungry and less than honest leaders of what was once something close to a Great Society. The Great Tragedy is that by chasing us away they further empowered themselves.
* You can run but, you can’t hide forever – “A federal appeals court on Monday ordered the Bush administration to hand over photos depicting abuse of prisoners held by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.” ACLU staff attorney Amrit Singh said, “These photographs demonstrate that the abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody abroad was not aberrational and not confined to Abu Ghraib, but the result of policies adopted by high-ranking officials. Their release is critical for bringing an end to the administration’s torture policies and for deterring further prisoner abuse.” It would not surprise me if one of these days an international authority investigates the possibility of war crimes committed by the United States. What is astounding to me is that I would ever imagine such a thought.
* A religious experience at the U.N. - On Tuesday President Bush gave his last speech to the United Nations. Those in attendance heard “Thank God” whispered in 102 languages.
* “The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted."
James Madison (1751 – 1836) a Founding Father of the U.S. and its fourth President (1809 – 1817)
Sadly these days, many of our financial journalists and analysts have the depth of introspection of a Miss America Pageant. Degrees aside, they respond to the surface of news events and drool like Pavlov's dogs when the appropriate bell is sounded. It would appear, beneath the surface that two events suggest that the actual power structure behind the Republican Party, in spite of the Sarah Palin love fest following the Republican convention, does not see John McCain winning the White House. Here is why.
I am somewhat disheartened when I reflect on what has been happening on the campaign trail in the last two weeks. I am even more disturbed by how the media has framed these events. I just wanted to go in my corner and cry my eyes out, thinking about how far we have come, how much we have accomplished on our way towards seeing real change in our country,,, All for Naught!!!! So it occurred to me that the only way for us to combat the events of the last two weeks is to get the real truth out. I wish that everyone would read the article I have attached here, by Paul Krugman, Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times. Are there any creative ways to fight wide-spread lies that are given a face of credibility by the mainstream media? How can we fight this? Read on.... (also read the email at the end of the article) In the email by an Alaskan resident, background is provided of which, only a local can have knowledge. Check it out for yourself. Personally, I disagree, however with name calling, and personal attacks on anyone.
Did you hear about how Barack Obama wants to have sex education in kindergarten, and called Sarah Palin a pig? Did you hear about how Ms. Palin told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks” when it wanted to buy Alaska a Bridge to Nowhere?
Paul Krugman
"...our system continues to reward false statements and outright lies with a winning campaign..."
These stories have two things in common: they’re all claims recently made by the McCain campaign — and they’re all out-and-out lies.
Dishonesty is nothing new in politics. I spent much of 2000 — my first year at The Times — trying to alert readers to the blatant dishonesty of the Bush campaign’s claims about taxes, spending and Social Security.
But I can’t think of any precedent, at least in America, for the blizzard of lies since the Republican convention. The Bush campaign’s lies in 2000 were artful — you needed some grasp of arithmetic to realize that you were being conned. This year, however, the McCain campaign keeps making assertions that anyone with an Internet connection can disprove in a minute, and repeating these assertions over and over again.
Take the case of the Bridge to Nowhere, which supposedly gives Ms. Palin credentials as a reformer. Well, when campaigning for governor, Ms. Palin didn’t say “no thanks” — she was all for the bridge, even though it had already become a national scandal, insisting that she would “not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative.”
Oh, and when she finally did decide to cancel the project, she didn’t righteously reject a handout from Washington: she accepted the handout, but spent it on something else. You see, long before she decided to cancel the bridge, Congress had told Alaska that it could keep the federal money originally earmarked for that project and use it elsewhere.
So the whole story of Ms. Palin’s alleged heroic stand against wasteful spending is fiction.
Or take the story of Mr. Obama’s alleged advocacy of kindergarten sex-ed. In reality, he supported legislation calling for “age and developmentally appropriate education”; in the case of young children, that would have meant guidance to help them avoid sexual predators.
And then there’s the claim that Mr. Obama’s use of the ordinary metaphor “putting lipstick on a pig” was a sexist smear, and on and on.
Why do the McCain people think they can get away with this stuff? Well, they’re probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being “balanced” at all costs. You know how it goes: If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn’t say that he’s wrong, it reports that “some Democrats say” that he’s wrong. Or a grotesque lie from one side is paired with a trivial misstatement from the other, conveying the impression that both sides are equally dirty.
They’re probably also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting, so that instead of the story being “McCain campaign lies,” it becomes “Obama on defensive in face of attacks.”
Still, how upset should we be about the McCain campaign’s lies? I mean, politics ain’t beanbag, and all that.
One answer is that the muck being hurled by the McCain campaign is preventing a debate on real issues — on whether the country really wants, for example, to continue the economic policies of the last eight years.
But there’s another answer, which may be even more important: how a politician campaigns tells you a lot about how he or she would govern.
I’m not talking about the theory, often advanced as a defense of horse-race political reporting, that the skills needed to run a winning campaign are the same as those needed to run the country. The contrast between the Bush political team’s ruthless effectiveness and the heckuva job done by the Bush administration is living, breathing, bumbling, and, in the case of the emerging Interior Department scandal, coke-snorting and bed-hopping proof to the contrary.
I’m talking, instead, about the relationship between the character of a campaign and that of the administration that follows. Thus, the deceptive and dishonest 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign provided an all-too-revealing preview of things to come. In fact, my early suspicion that we were being misled about the threat from Iraq came from the way the political tactics being used to sell the war resembled the tactics that had earlier been used to sell the Bush tax cuts.
And now the team that hopes to form the next administration is running a campaign that makes Bush-Cheney 2000 look like something out of a civics class. What does that say about how that team would run the country?
What it says, I’d argue, is that the Obama campaign is wrong to suggest that a McCain-Palin administration would just be a continuation of Bush-Cheney. If the way John McCain and Sarah Palin are campaigning is any indication, it would be much, much worse.
More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print on September 12, 2008, on page A23 of the New York edition. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This is an email I received via general distribution. I do not know who wrote it, nor can I vouch for the authenticity of the content, but it does raise so interesting points tha can be easily verified and used to inform those who are inclined to believe how the mainstream media is framing the life, experience and impact of Palin on the Presidential Race.
Hi everyone, This was sent to me and I wanted to share it with you. Please share this info with your undecided friends. Deborah Note: I do not agree with calling anyone a redneck but I do want you to know about the real Palin. Date: Friday, September 5, 2008, 2:25 PM In a democracy, the government we get is the one we deserve. Please pass this on to all of the undecided voters and those who question the need to vote. As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I know more than most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her. The most accurate description of her is red neck. Her husband works in the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and races snow mobiles. She is a life time member of the NRA and has worked tirelessly to allow indiscriminate hunting of wildlife in Alaska, particularly wolves and bears. She has spent millions of Alaska state dollars on aerial hunting of these predators from helicopters and airplanes, dollars that should have been spent, for example, on Alaska's failing school system.We have the lowest rate of high school graduation in the country. Not all of you may think aerial predator hunting is so bad, but how anyone (other than Alaska wolf-haters, of which there are many, most without teeth), could think this use of funds is appropriate is beyond me. If you want to know more about the aerial hunting travesty, let me know and I will send some links to informative web sites. She has been a strong supporter of increased use of fossil fuels, yet the McCain campaign has the nerve to say she has "green" policies. The only thing green about Sarah Palin is her lack of experience. She has consistently supported drilling in ANWR, use of coal-burning power plants (as I write this, a new coal plant is being built in her home town of Wasilla), strip mining, and almost anything else that will unnecessarily exploit the diminishing resources of Alaska and destroy its environment. Prior to her one year as governor of Alaska, she was mayor of Wasilla, a small red neck town outside Anchorage.The average maximum education level of parents of junior high school kids in Wasilla is 10th grade. Unfortunately, I have to go to Wasilla every week to get groceries and other supplies, so I have continual contact with the people who put Palin in office in the first place. I know what I'm talking about. These people don't have a concept of the world around them or of the serious issues facing the US. Furthermore, they don't care. So long as they can go out and hunt their moose every fall, kill wolves and bears and drive their snow mobiles and ATVs through every corner of the wilderness, they're happy. I wish I were exaggerating. Sarah Palin is currently involved in a political corruption scandal. She fired an individual in law enforcement here because she didn't like how he treated one of her relatives during a divorce. The man's performance and ability weren't considered; it was a totally personal firing and is currently under investigation. While the issue isn't close to the scandal of Ted Steven's corruption, it shows that Palin isn't "squeaky clean" and causes me to think there may be more issues that could come to light. Clearly McCain doesn't care. When you line Palin up with Biden, the comparison would be laughable if it weren't so serious. Sarah Palin knows nothing of economics (admittedly a weak area for McCain), or of international affairs, knows nothing of national government, Social Security, unemployment, health care systems - you name it. The idea of her meeting with heads of foreign governments around the world truly frightens me. In an increasingly dangerous world, with the economy in shambles in the US, Sarah Palin is uniquely UNqualified to be vice president. John McCain is not a young man. Should something happen to himsuch that the vice president had to step in, it would destroy our country and possibly the world to have someone as inexperienced and inappropriate as Sarah Palin. The choice of Palin is a cheap shot by McCain to try to get Hillary supporters to vote for him. when McCain introduced her today, Palin had the nerve to compare herself with Hillary and Geraldine Ferraro. Sarah Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton. To those of you who, like me, supported Hillary and were upset that she did not get the nomination, please don't think that Sarah Palin is a worthy substitute. If you supported Hillary, regardless of what you think the media and the Democratic party may have done to undermine her campaign, the person to support now is Obama, not Sarah Palin. To those of you who are independent or undecided, don't let the choice of Palin sway you in favor of McCain. Choosing her shows how unqualified McCain is to be president. To those of you who are conservative, I guess you have no choice for president. But please try to see how the poor choice of Palin tells us a great deal about McCain's judgment. While the political posturing inherent in the choice of Palin is obvious, the more serious issue is the fact that the VP is, literally, a heartbeat away from the presidency. Sarah Palin is totally and unequivocally unqualified to be vice president, let alone president. I know this is a lengthy and emotional email, but the stakes are high.I thought it might help for all of you, regardless of politicalaffiliation, to know something about Palin from someone who has tolive with her administration in Alaska on a daily basis. Jackie S. ( end of email)
This is why Palin shouldn't be our next VP and why McCain shouldn't be our next President! Don't vote for McCain and Palin!
Sarah Palin Ad from Heart of the Wolf Org. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4v_kOFSV2I Please check out this ad and pass it along. Mike Wagner Founder and Director of Heart of the Wolf Organization
http://www.heartofthewolf.org
It's obvious that the culture war is back on (as if it ever went away). For all of the talk about executive experience, etc. it is clear that the principal characteristics that got Sarah Palin picked for the McCain ticket are that she is a lifelong member of the NRA and an evangelical Christian.
Obama got so much flak for his off-the-record observation that blue collar voters compensated for economic distress by clinging to their guns and their religion. It seems that John McCain was not only listening, but he agreed. The massive Palin bounce after the RNC shows Obama's insight was powerful, indeed.
I hope that the combined judgement, gravitas, and policy orientation of the Obama/Biden ticket burns through the fog of Republican demagoguery. I don't have confidence it will without lots of grassroots effort from people like you and me. The Reps have once again hamstrung the media by tagging them with the leftist elite moniker. It's up to us, folks.
Both major political party nominating processes and conventions were amazing and fascinating spectacles for oratory and drama of sociopolitical “firsts.” We are all amazed and heartened by this. It does say something very positive about a resilience and malleability of attitudes in America.
There is something else the two conventions highlighted. Remember the days when it was commonly heard, “What’s the difference between the parties? They stand for the same things; they just spin the issues differently.” Although I never subscribed to this view, there was an aspect of it that rung true on many particular issues. Endorsing and exploiting this sentiment in 2000, Ralph Nader, with help from political appointees of Jeb Bush’s in Florida and not even a plurality of voters, was able to select George Bush as President of the United States and to inaugurate the era of extremist religion-based leadership of our country, a Red-Blooded American version of Turkey’s fundamentalist Islamic government in that Constitutionally secular state. Now we have, thanks to King George and the Neocons, party lines that are more clearly drawn both by the current candidates and by the last 16 years of implemented policy. We have the party of fiscal responsibility, environmental stewardship, and respectable foreign policy; and the party of emotional motivational speakers, greed, and global rampage, all in God’s name.
Lest I oversimplify, both political parties cast broad nets, and both include more respectable elements than what now controls the Republicans. It is clear that the Republicans are embracing the notion that maybe King George wasn’t the greatest President after all, but by changing faces and smearing the old face the way Americans see him, they can keep most of his old policies. Giving them due credit, it is also clear that the Republicans are redefining themselves in a more genuine way, that John McCain, at least, sees that the Democrats have some pretty good ideas, and they are eager to adopt some of them. He said as much in his acceptance speech; for example, on pushing alternative energy sources and even hybrid internal combustion/electric-powered transportation. This is really a good thing, as it means that with the Democratic initiatives in this area, and Republicans agreeing that it makes sense, some dramatic change is going to happen. We welcome this sudden conversion to common sense on this issue after so many years hiding under the Bushes.
There are other areas where a possible future President McCain would do so much better than King George has done. In fact, I would go so far as to say that, based on John McCain’s acceptance speech last night, there is a real glimmer of hope that the Republicans are transforming into a responsible party, a reasonable opposition; perhaps there is some latent potential for taking the mantle of leadership without furthering the unraveling of American and global security and prosperity. The troubling fact is that we have seen two totally different John McCains, the one from before 2000 now seeming to re-emerge, and the lapdog of King George from the last 8 years. Like the Star Trek episode, where it was darn near impossible to know from hearing and seeing him speak, whether you are dealing with the evil Capt. Kirk from a parallel Universe, or the good one from the Universe we know and love.
The trouble is, he bent to the whim of the extremists, especially the NRA, in selecting Sarah Palin. She is a wonderful hockey Mom, and I am sure she was a great PTA activist. I am sure she did some great things for a little town. Her main claim to fame there is that, under orders from a bar owner and the NRA, she fired the police chief, who was arguing for a bit more law and order in his little town. She certainly is a great orator and first-rate stand-up comedian, and that counts for a lot in today’s national political arena. I can foresee the day—possibly as soon as four years from now—when Sarah Palin may have gained enough experience thinking about issues larger than Alaska, and when she has been vetted sufficiently, that she may be a responsible nominee for VP or even President. She is nowhere near ready at this point.
I was truly heartened by much of what I heard John McCain say; but the fact that he bent to the whim of the NRA to select a VP candidate who bends to the whim of the NRA is indeed a worrisome pattern. In effect, a vote for John McCain for President is a vote for the President of the NRA for President of the USA. Talk about control by narrow/special interests! Do we know McCain by his dictates from the NRA, or by his POW experience? By his support of Bush, Inc., or by his Republican-bashing? Is this our Capt. Kirk or the one from the evil parallel Universe? If a chameleon has changed its colors while you look away, is it the same chameleon, has it shifted colors, or is it a different chameleon that is a stand-in? If it's the same chameleon, under what conditions will it again change colors?
I truly could care less about "Super Woman" Palin. She chose to accept the nomination, and that automatically put her under the microscope...not just her, but her family too. Comes with the territory. Sorry kids. Real considerate little miss "good" mom. Don't forget that hubby Todd helps her run her family "like a well-oiled machine". How fortunate. Hmmmm...someone best pass Todd the oil can. There are NO PERSONAL MATTERS (read: 17 y ear old preggo) in politics, ESPECIALLY at the level she is at. I am SICK of hearing that whenever this subject is on the news (read: soap opera)
What I do care about is that people in this country seem to be basing their very important vote on either race or gender instead of what the candidates bring or do not bring to the table. McCain's move to pick Palin was so transparent (read: woman, oil, woman, oil, woman, oil, totes kids to press conferences -SO professional!) and every lemming in this country is ready to jump over the cliff in support, regardless of party affiliation. I am dumbstruck by it.
BOTTOM LINE HERE: Palin is a gun-toting, NRA card waving, Bully (read: State Trooper debacle),Conservative (values-not so much), republican and GOD help this country if they get elected. I am not judging her because her 17 year old is pregnant. Everyone, including her daughter is responsible for their own life. I am sure her daughter heard plenty about walking the walk...but don't try to twist everything around and make it sound like its all Copasetic .Okay so you did NOT force her to abort. Okay so you ARE forcing your daughter to get married at 17. What is twisted about this scenerio?Simply put I do not like her bully-like reputation..2 intolerant, hot heads in the oval office scare the hell out of me. Obama has proven himself over and over to be a person who can stay cool under pressure.
I am multiracial, a woman and an independent. I am voting for Barak Obama and Joe Biden. It has nothing to do with race, has everything to do with Obama's platform and admiration and respect that he is not easily sucked into the negative campaign tatics of the Republicans.
If a woman is voting for McCain SIMPLY because she is a woman we have a HUGE problem in this country. I heard one woman say "she is not just a card toting member of the NRA, she hunts, kills, skins, guts and eats Moose. WOW! I am so impressed. So the next time a MOOSE wants to build a nuclear weapon, or a terrorist wants to blow up a landmark in our country we will be all set.
But when it comes to reality, I do not want her to be steps away from the presidency, sorry. Obama is my choice, and Michelle Obama is one class act and will make a fine First Lady.
Okay that is all for now. :-)
Z
A FORUM FOR EX-CHANGE
Monday, September 1, 2008 I received a letter from Natasha of the Care2 Campaign, regarding Alaska's annual Wolf Slaughter extravaganza. The letter and petition are printed below. Scroll down and go right to it, or allow me to vent first:
McCain's running mate shoots Moose with lead bullets. She eats Moose with her AIP-member, BP oilman hubbie and 4 (or is it 5?) children. She likes to get up close to the helpless animal 'til she sees the whites of the eyes. Then she pulls the trigger.
I guess there's not enough slaughtered meat in Alaska's wanna-be-free-from-the-United States supermarket shelves, for she also continues to OK the aerial "culling" of Alaska's mighty wolves, so her hundreds of thousands of Moose and Caribou won't be hunted and eaten by the (diminishing) wolf population, allowing Ms. NRA and associates to continue to bond. After all, why waste a good bottle of Gallo or a 12-pack of Bud on a measly package of store-bought beef? Or.... perhaps Ms. ex-beauty queen turned newscaster turned mayor turned governor knows the dirty secret most of us are kept in the dark about: alot of those poor cows are sick and "downed" right before their horrific slaughter, because factory farming is a disgusting, disease ridden - but BIG - business.
So she's turned Alaskan wolf slaughter into an art form. Here's how: she gives thumbs up for hunters to pack into airplanes. They circle and circle the wolf families for hours, exhausting them until they cannot run anymore. Then, amidst hi-fives and hoopla, they murder from above, leaving bloody wolf carcasses strewn in for thousands of miles in the virgin snow. The lead bullets used are poisoning hawks, falcons and other near-extinct birds who finish off the dead animals, thus killing THEM and causing THEIR extinction, too.
Lately, hunters have said, "hell with flying, I wanna get up close and personal, like our sexy governor does!". They and their hunter sons and daughters stake out wolf dens, (illegal, but so what? Who's monitering them?). They sneak up when the wolves are sleeping, place their rifle barrels right behind the head, and assassinate them - parents first, then the orphaned pups. Family values 101, GOP style.
But wait, there's more: Ms. Governor Woman, no wuss, has decreed that Polar Bears should not be categorized as endangered. (In FACT, because the ice up there is melting so fast, Polar Bears have nothing to float on after swimming for miles, so they tire, then drown.) This allows no excuse for BP Oil not to drill in Anwar, despite years of calls, petitions, and letters from WE THE PEOPLE (in the lower 48, the nation that Alaska wants to be free of), saying, pleading, hell, SCREAMING "NO!!". Palin is a life long hunter and member of the NRA. What can we expect? She's against abortion of human fetuses, (and would surely turn Roe v. Wade around in a heartbeat, if given the chance) but animals aren't thought to have spirits or souls like humans. (How do WE know that for sure??) So to Ms. Palin, killing wild animals and their pups doesn't count as a sin, right? As abortion does, I mean. Besides, killing unarmed, innocent, animals and their pups is damn fun!! Hell, the family that spills, kills and grills together......And all that untapped OIL...mmmm, mmmm, good! The republicans think they can throw a woman at it's evangelical base. For the confused, insulted, enraged democrats, they think WE think Palin is Clinton, and Clinton is Palin - I mean, we all look alike in a pants suit, don't we?
Are evangelicals THAT stupid to buy that crap? Are women, red or blue, going to take that? The Republicans are DESPERATELY betting on it.
This last minute "shock & awe" Palin debacle has revealed more about McCain's "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality than anything he can ever say or do ever again.
I pray that more hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods reign down on the RNC and the GOP campaign, where ever and whenever they convene, right up until November 4th, so we'll all be spared the gut-wrenching spectacle of lil Georgie and Johnnie playing patty-cake behind their star spangled lectern. I think I'd actually return to a church, any church, if God did us all THAT one favor. Let's say a prayer for the spirits and the souls of all the slaughtered animals killed in the name of human consumption and protein-fortified energy. God, let those angry animal spirits and souls enter us, and give us enough thrust to finally wipe ourselves off the face of your once-beautiful planet!!
Wanna do something for the wolves??? Read on, cut and paste, and sign the petition below:***********************************************************************************A letter I received from the CARE2Campaign: Dear Dyan,Thank you so much for speaking out and signing our petition to urge Congress to end aerial hunting of wolves. Your signatures are working – there are over 125 co-sponsors of the Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act in Congress now!But as we are making progress in Congress, there is unfortunately some sad news to report. Last week, Alaska voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have ended the state's brutal aerial hunting program. This news, on top of the recent brutal and illegal killing of 14 wolf pups shows how much we still need to do to protect our wildlife.That is why we need your help. As we prepare for another bloody aerial hunting season in Alaska, we must redouble our efforts to pass the PAW Act. Please spread the word and help us end aerial hunting of wolves forever – ask three friends to sign our petition today!Now more than ever we need to ensure that this important bill gets passed. Just weeks ago, state wildlife agency personnel staked out a known wolf denning site -- a practice that is illegal under Alaska law -- and, using helicopters, they gunned down 14 adult wolves from the air, part of an effort to boost caribou populations in Southwest Alaska.When they landed, they found the 14 helpless pups in the nearby dens -- just weeks old -- and methodically shot each one in the head. 28 wolves gunned down in all.Please ask three friends to join you in signing our petition to Congress today: http://go.care2.com/e/9Ep3/VyLs/AGY89You can use our tell-a-friend tool to send your friends a message, or copy the sample message below and send a personal email to all the wildlife lovers you know:Sample email: Hi - Alaska is the only state in the nation where trophy hunters can gun down wolves from airplanes or chase wolves to exhaustion and then shoot them from the ground. As recently as July, state wildlife agency personnel in Alaska staked out a known wolf denning site -- a practice that is illegal under Alaska law -- and, using helicopters, gunned down 14 adult wolves from the air. When they landed, they found the 14 helpless pups in the nearby dens -- just weeks old -- and methodically shot each one in the head. 28 wolves gunned down in all. Alaska's state officials continue to let brutal aerial hunting happen by exploiting a loophole in federal law. When this year's hunting season begins, hundreds of wolves could be killed yet again. Please join me in signing this petition to urge Congress to close the loopholes and end aerial hunting of wolves: http://go.care2.com/e/9Ep4/VyLs/AGY89 Wolf opponents in Idaho and Wyoming are eager to follow Alaska's cruel example. Hundreds of wolves could be killed in the Northern Rockies if these states get their way. Please sign the petition to save America's wolves and end aerial hunting: http://go.care2.com/e/9Ep4/VyLs/AGY89 Thanks! Natasha Thank you for helping us spread the word to save wolves,NatashaCare2 Campaign Team Posted by DYRO ENTERTAINMENT at 9:33 AM 0 comments
Dear Mr. Green and Ed Kelley:
I can only assume that the video commentary presented on NewsOk.com was a parody, and a very good one at that. Your description of Senator McCain’s “brilliant” decision in choosing Ms. Palin was political wit at its best. She’s “young”, a “mom”, a “woman” and will be a magnet for attention, already eclipsing Senator Obama’s overlooked acceptance speech of the night before. Your sarcastic tone throughout the video will go down as a classic for the ages. Of course, the next Vice-President of the United States should have the qualities of “normal” voters! She’s a hockey mom, served on a town council (in a metropolis of 9,000 no less), she fishes (that alone should qualify her but who am I to say), and she eats moose burgers. What more could we ask for in a candidate? Well, you hit it out of the ballpark when you proudly stated that she even played her high school championship basketball game with a “stress fracture”! Oh my God, tell me no!
Your commentary was meant as farce wasn’t it? We are talking about a woman who has no international or foreign policy experience (okay, she did apply and received her first passport last year), served with her PTA, and then moved up to the town council, and eventually mayor of Wasilla, population 9,000. She has less than two years experience as governor of a state with half the population of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and is currently under investigation by an independent council for the misuse of government power. Yes, she’ll be a magnet at the convention, for what, I am not sure.
What an incredible feeling we will have once McCain and Palin are in the White House! Her years coaching little league and being the runner-up in Miss Alaska will come in handy when she and Putin, Chavez, or Kim Jong Il go face to face. After all, Senator McCain surely kept the best interest of the United States in mind when he selected her. After all, they had only met once before his decision. She must really be impressive. I’ve heard she’s really going to siphon off all those Hillary women with her lifelong membership in the NRA (we do need more AK-47’s on the streets, don’t we?) and her courage in defending a women’s health and equal pay issues. Thank goodness Senator McCain did not make some silly political move just to be elected. That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?
The future of our country and its position within the global community is not something to take lightly. Your commentary so blatantly ignored the most important facts and most of all, completely voided any future credibility of The Daily Oklahoman and its editorial positions. You and the newspaper are a disgrace to Oklahoma City, the State of Oklahoma and the United States of America.
Thank you,
Greg Geurin
Panama City, Panama
It's rockin' right now at HuffPo: New Group Wants To Overthrow Obama At Convention and the author is Thomas B. Edsall, one of their most respected essayists.
Maybe, just maybe, a bunch of delegates to the Democratic Convention in Denver will change their minds at the last minute. Maybe there is an outside chance that between now and the last week of August a critical mass will decide that Barack Obama is not their guy -- that, to the surprise of one and all, Hillary Rodham Clinton is to be the 2008 nominee after all.That is the thinking behind a small but determined band of Hillary backers, some of whom have formed a 527 fundraising committee that has already run one $9,700 ad in the Chicago Tribune, and plans more in the weeks to come.The Denver Group: Keeping the Democratic Party democratic, created by Georgetown Law professor Heidi Li Feldman and freelance advertising man Marc Rubin, ran an ad in Friday's Chicago Tribune declaring:"Senator Clinton's name must be put in nomination. Her supporters must be allowed to make speeches on her behalf of her candidacy. There must be an honest roll call vote, not a symbolic one, so superdelegates can cast their votes honestly, for either candidate, as their judgment, conscience and democratic principles dictate."Feldman told the Huffington Post that the goal of the Denver Group "is to insure substantive and legitimate selection of the nominee." DNC chairman and other party leaders "should be taking responsibility for making sure it's a legitimate procedure. They cannot demand that people simply unify around either one of them."Feldman argued that it is entirely conceivable that an open vote could produce a Clinton victory. "Then, the decision comes down to the superdelegates. I have no Idea what they are going to do six weeks from now.".... read the entire article here.
According to Fox News, “virtually all records and billing in the U.S. are done for the telephone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an Israeli-based private telecommunication company, contracting with the 25 biggest phone companies in America, and more worldwide,” said Fox chief political correspondent Carl Cameron in a four-part series—the video and transcript content of which were removed from Fox’s website after both were preserved by internet sources. [cf. Tom Flocco.com]
One of the main concerns raised by Cameron's series for Fox News is evidence of security breaches in the system. In effect, it means that no citizen of the United States is secure in their electronically transmitted personal communications, bank accounts, retirement funds, investment portfolios, medical records or other private demographics. It means that the United States government is not secure in its communications.Most importantly, it leads one to wonder why the Israeli government, working through AIPAC and representing the interests of not just the Israeli private telecommunications industry, but also the Mossad and CIA partnership that worked to mine the data being produced, would have such a highly sensitive and apparently classified interest in immunity from litigation, given what we now know of their role in providing the intelligence warnings prior to 9/11 vis-a-vis these very resources. In an interview after the vote, Senator Hillary Clinton was curiously quoted to have said that the immunity provision of FISA now severely restricts future investigations into 9/11. That is quite an amazing statement when you stop and think about its implications.Here is a portion of Senator Clinton's written statement to the press, provided at Huffington Post, that for some reason the controlled media believed insignificant or that it didn't quite communicate the talking points they were looking for:
"...But the legislation has other significant shortcomings. The legislation also makes no meaningful change to the immunity provisions. There is little disagreement that the legislation effectively grants retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies. In my judgment, immunity under these circumstances has the practical effect of shutting down a critical avenue for holding the administration accountable for its conduct. It is precisely why I have supported efforts in the Senate to strip the bill of these provisions, both today and during previous debates on this subject. Unfortunately, these efforts have been unsuccessful. "What is more, even as we considered this legislation, the administration refused to allow the overwhelming majority of Senators to examine the warrantless wiretapping program. This made it exceedingly difficult for those Senators who are not on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to assess the need for the operational details of the legislation, and whether greater protections are necessary. The same can be said for an assessment of the telecom immunity provisions. On an issue of such tremendous importance to our citizens - and in particular to New Yorkers - all Senators should have been entitled to receive briefings that would have enabled them to make an informed decision about the merits of this legislation. I cannot support this legislation when we know neither the nature of the surveillance activities authorized nor the role played by telecommunications companies granted immunity..."
"What is more, even as we considered this legislation, the administration refused to allow the overwhelming majority of Senators to examine the warrantless wiretapping program. This made it exceedingly difficult for those Senators who are not on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to assess the need for the operational details of the legislation, and whether greater protections are necessary. The same can be said for an assessment of the telecom immunity provisions. On an issue of such tremendous importance to our citizens - and in particular to New Yorkers - all Senators should have been entitled to receive briefings that would have enabled them to make an informed decision about the merits of this legislation. I cannot support this legislation when we know neither the nature of the surveillance activities authorized nor the role played by telecommunications companies granted immunity..."
...Meanwhile, Barack Obama is complaining that his "friends on the left" just don't understand him -- he's not moving to the center, he is "no doubt" a progressive, just one who now supports the scandalous FISA "compromise" and Antonin Scalia's views on gun rights and the death penalty, no longer plans to accept public campaign funding, and wants to make sure women aren't feigning mental distress to get a "partial-birth" abortion (the right's despicable term of choice; the correct phrase is either late-term or third-trimester abortion). I actually have some sympathy for Obama. He was never the great progressive savior that his fans either thought he was, or peddled to their readers. While Arianna Huffington and Markos Moulitsas and Tom Hayden were hyping him as the progressive alternative to Hillary Clinton, Obama was getting away with backing a healthcare bill less progressive than Clinton's, adopting GOP talking points on the Social Security "crisis" and double-talking on NAFTA. So why shouldn't he think his "friends on the left" will put up with his abandoning other progressive causes? I've admired Obama, but I never confused him with a genuine progressive leader. Today I don't admire him at all. His collapse on FISA is unforgivable. The only thing Obama has going for him this week is that McCain is matching him misstep for misstep. While we're railing about Obama's craven vote on FISA -- rightfully; Glenn Greenwald is a hero for his work on this topic -- McCain was outdoing Dick Cheney with neocon crazy talk, warning that Iran's test of nine old missiles we already knew they had increases the chances of a "second Holocaust." Every time I wonder whether I can ultimately vote for Obama in November, given all of his political cave-ins, McCain does something new to make sure I have to. But Obama needs to watch himself. Telling voters they have no place else to go, before he officially has the nomination, is not a winning strategy. That's what his people told Clinton voters. That's what they're saying about opponents of the FISA sellout. That's the line on those concerned about his "partial-birth" abortion remarks. It's arrogant -- up against the backdrop of Obama's big plans for an Invesco Field acceptance speech in Denver and a Brandenberg Gate extravaganza in Berlin, I'm starting to worry about grandiosity -- and it could backfire.
I actually have some sympathy for Obama. He was never the great progressive savior that his fans either thought he was, or peddled to their readers. While Arianna Huffington and Markos Moulitsas and Tom Hayden were hyping him as the progressive alternative to Hillary Clinton, Obama was getting away with backing a healthcare bill less progressive than Clinton's, adopting GOP talking points on the Social Security "crisis" and double-talking on NAFTA. So why shouldn't he think his "friends on the left" will put up with his abandoning other progressive causes?
I've admired Obama, but I never confused him with a genuine progressive leader. Today I don't admire him at all. His collapse on FISA is unforgivable. The only thing Obama has going for him this week is that McCain is matching him misstep for misstep. While we're railing about Obama's craven vote on FISA -- rightfully; Glenn Greenwald is a hero for his work on this topic -- McCain was outdoing Dick Cheney with neocon crazy talk, warning that Iran's test of nine old missiles we already knew they had increases the chances of a "second Holocaust." Every time I wonder whether I can ultimately vote for Obama in November, given all of his political cave-ins, McCain does something new to make sure I have to.
But Obama needs to watch himself. Telling voters they have no place else to go, before he officially has the nomination, is not a winning strategy. That's what his people told Clinton voters. That's what they're saying about opponents of the FISA sellout. That's the line on those concerned about his "partial-birth" abortion remarks. It's arrogant -- up against the backdrop of Obama's big plans for an Invesco Field acceptance speech in Denver and a Brandenberg Gate extravaganza in Berlin, I'm starting to worry about grandiosity -- and it could backfire.
APPENDIX-B: Comverse-Infosys - Verint
This article is a translation of the Dutch article Nederlandse tapkamers niet kosjer that will appear in c't 2003-01, which will be available in the shops on december 19 2002
Dutch tapping room not kosher
by Paul Wouters, Patrick Smits
According to anonymous sources within the Dutch intelligence community, all tapping equipment of the Dutch intelligence services and half the tapping equipment of the national police force, is insecure and is leaking information to Israel. How difficult is it to make a back-door in the Dutch Transport of Intercepted IP Traffic[1] system?
The discussion focusses on the tapping installations for telephony and internet delivered to the government in the last few years by the Israeli company Verint[2].
This company was called Comverse-Infosys[3] until half a year ago, but was quickly renamed when the FBI started several investigations against it and arrested some of its employees in the US on suspicion of espionage. (See pulled FoxNews stories, Politech, Cryptome or Google).
Complete article
Israeli Spy-Ring in the USA
.........It turns out that Israel has had a potential wiretap on every phone in America for years, along with the ability to monitor and record who any person is calling, anywhere in America; information of great value even if one does not listen to the calls themselves. Amdocs, Inc., the company which subcontracts billing and directory services for phone companies around the world, including 90 percent of American phone companies, is owned by Israeli interests. Yet another company, Comverse Infosys, is suspected of having built a “back door” into the equipment permanently installed into the phone system that allows instant eavesdropping by law enforcement agencies on any phone in America. This includes yours.....
Complete article (alternative)
Israeli Security to Protect London's Underground
(IsraelNN.com) Verint Systems, a subsidiary of Israel's Comverse Technology announced that Metronet Rail has selected Verint's networked video solution to enhance security of the London Underground, according to an Israel21c report...........
At first blush, the recent adoption by the House of Representatives of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act, which gives telecommunications companies that illegally eavesdropped on the telephone conversations, faxes, text messages, and emails of Americans retroactive immunity from lawsuits from privacy-violated and aggrieved customers, would see to have little to do with the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
However, the support for the bill by AIPAC's biggest boosters, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, whose sister, Bernice Manocherian, was an executive president of AIPAC, and Jane Harman, who was slated to become chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) but whose nomination was nixed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi after a Justice Department investigation of Harman's contacts with AIPAC, poses an interesting question: Why would Israel's lobby be adamantly opposed to lawsuits against phone companies that illegally spied on Americans? WMR has obtained internal Department of Justice memos and emails that document the department's concerns for the possible penetration by Israeli intelligence of federal law enforcement T2S2 digital wire intercept facilities, including those located in High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) operations centers across the United States.
Harman, who would have had oversight over FISA matters as HPSCI chair, was under investigation by Justice for trying to make a deal with the Bush administration to curtail an espionage investigation of AIPAC stemming from the receipt by two AIPAC officials -- Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen -- of highly classified intelligence documents from the CIA and the Pentagon from convicted Israeli spy Larry Franklin, in return for AIPAC support for her as HPSCI chair and other support for Bush administration initiatives. The documents were passed to a Mossad agent attached to the Israeli embassy in Washington. Harman's bid to become HPSCI chair was backed by wealthy Hollywood mogul Haim Saban, who also funds the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and is currently nesting a number of pro-Israel policy makers who will likely enter a Barack Obama administration to ensure no deviation from the United States in its unbridled support for Israel. However, these Israeli acolytes may be sorely disappointed by a President Obama. The Democratic candidate vowed to gut the retroactive immunity provisions from the amended FISA bill if he is elected president.
To ensure a lock on the no retroactive lawsuit provisions, the man who became HPSCI chair, Sylvestre Reyes, supported the measure. He was joined by other AIPAC sure bets, including Brad Sherman (D-CA), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), John Yarmuth (KY), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Jason Altmire (D-PA), and, for added measure Pelosi.
If lawsuits were permitted against telecommunications firms, the discovery process may have resulted in details being unearthed about the extent of Israel's involvement in federal wiretapping and illegal surveillance of Americans.
The Justice Department red flags were first raised after the Fox News expose of the espionage activities of Israeli "art students." A December 18, 2001 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) email cites these concerns (it is also noteworthy that the report on the suspicious pre-9/11 activities of over 120 Israeli "art students" originated with the DEA:
From: [DELETED]Sent: (DELETED]To: [DELETED]Subject: [DELETED]I'm not sure what is meant by "Bottom line we should have caught it."------Original message-------From: Raffanello, Heidi M.Sent:Tuesday, December 18, 2001 3:04 PMTo:Zeisset, Dale M.Cc:Newton, Otis L; Howard, JPSubject: ComverseAs you may have heard Security Program is briefing the Administrator[42] tomorrow morning on the Israeli students investigation to include T2S2 Comverse and JSI. This was a result of the Fox network expose on Israeli counterintelligence activities. In our discussions about remote maintenance for JSI and Comverse, we realized that Comverse remote maintenance for field systems was not addressed in the C & A process. We will approach it in the similar fashion as we did in the JSI issue, however the foreign national factor doesn't apply. It remains unclear if Comverse personnel are security cleared and if so, who are they and what type of clearances are on record. If you have names, I can run their status in Personnel Security. If not, we will need to have Comverse and ST identify a short list of personnel that will require clearances.
Huckabee and Hillary make a nice, rhythmic rhyme, but they sure don't have any reason. After all, who in their right mind would even think to make assassination references in regards to a Presidential candidate -- the first one of color, no less -- unless they had some deep-down fantasy that's better left unexpressed?
I'm a gun owner. As a young boy I was a member of the NRA and learned to shoot safely following their guidelines. And I continue to be a gun owner today.
And I support Barrack Obama.
Jim
