While serving as a US Federal employee, I was brutally beaten in my face, head, arms and legs in an Oklahoma jail cell on July 16th. I am a black woman under the age of 30 and a plain clothes policeman followed me after asking me inappropriate personal questions. I was booked at the jail for eluding the policeman at 30 mph below the speed limit and arrested me at gun point. After I was beaten, I was left for dead and placed into a suicide chair for hours until 8 AM the following morning. I was arraigned by a judge who increased my sentence from a misdemeanor to a felony and the District Attorney continues to refuse to drop the charges.
Mr. President,It is with great sadness and regret that I must decline your emailed request. I do this with intimate and personal knowledge of how important this legislation is. I am a computer consultant by profession, and with the downturn in the economy, my income has been slashed to a small fraction of what it once was. In fact, our family has had to rely heavily on my wife's part-time income while I attempt to build a whole new business. Last week, that reliance ended. In a fall down the cellar stairs, my wife broke one ankle and the other foot. Because I have been self-employed for the last 2.5 years and my wife is only a part-time employee with no benefits, our only health insurance is what we can afford to pay for out of pocket. The bills arising out of her injury and her inability to work combine put us in a precarious position.I find myself having to rely on the charity of others, on the Council for Aging in our small town, on volunteer organizations such as Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts, and the support of family members.Believe me, sir, I know how important health care reform is. I understand intimately how critical the Recovery and Stimulus plan are. I could not believe more in the important work that lies before you economically and with regard to health care. I understand that health care was, quite understandably your primary object during much of the campaign and that the economy has become both a problem of its own and an obstacle to the extremely hard work of making progress on health care.Sadly, sir, while I believe all that, and my own livelihood and home are threatened by the dual threat of healthcare costs and the collapsed economy, none of that is my primary concern. No, sir. My concern is for the health of our Republic and not of the body or the economy. I love my wife, and I love my family, and I love my home. But we are strong and we will survive, somehow. My deepest concern is for the heart and soul of this country, for the Rule of Law, for the principles upon which this great nation was conceived, and to which it is dedicated. And that, sir, I believe is endangered. It is endangered by torture; by indefinite detention; by warrant-less surveillance, search and seizure; by kangaroo courts that fail to uphold either our civilian laws or the uniform code of military justice; by the notion that the highest ranking officials can break our laws and not be investigated, let alone prosecuted; by a government that clouds its crimes in claims of secrecy and unspecified nationally security. Today, sir, it is endangered by you.After eight years of a Presidency that plumbed depths of deceit, greed, corruption, war crimes and the arrogation of raw power, I voted for you in hopes that we could turn the page, that we could heal this land, that we could restore the rule of law. Sadly, sir, it seems that we cannot; that your view of the presidency, of executive privilege, of state secrecy, of the immunity of the powerful from the rule of law is too tainted by the power illegitimately accrued by your predecessor. It seems, sir, that the old adage is true. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.So, no, sir, you may not have my voice on health care, nor on the economy. You may not have it even though the woman I love is in bad need of better health care, even though this economy is depriving me of the ability to support my family. At this time, even in the face of those great crises, I have only enough voice for this: "Return us to the Rule of Law, not men." Close Gitmo. Stop the Military Commissions. Try the prisoners or free them. Forswear prolong and preventative detention. Investigate the War Crimes and prosecute the guilty. Stop hiding behind Executive Privilege and National Security. Save my country. Save it for my children and their children. Save it for your children. This is not a distraction. Without our Soul this country dies.I will find some way, through the charity of strangers, the support of my family or the Hand of Providence to get my wife the care she needs. I will find a way to join with others to build a company to employ us all and save our homes and livelihoods. It will be hard, but since they brought my multi-great grandfather to these shores in chains for the crime of being a Scot and supporting the wrong absolute ruler, my family has found a way to do those things. Somehow, I and mine will find the way to protect and fend for ourselves. What you, sir, must do, is defend this country, and despite all that has been said in this new century, the threat to this country is not foreign fanatics. It is domestic fanatics. It is power misused, law abandoned. It is forgetting what makes this nation great. It is abandoning our principles. I am not of your party. I am an independent. Yet, I voted for you, and worked for you and wept with joy to see a man with your background, both in heritage and in principle, elected President. The promise of it! The hope. Live up to that hope, sir. Give us back our Country. That, above all, is what we need. Then, sir, I will join you in working for health care and the economy and the other great works there are before us.
Jim Burrows, aka Brons - Vox Libertas
by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor March 31, 2009_pub = 'sertelt';
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The only two Democratic members of the U.S Senate who are not strong abortion advocates like the rest of their party's caucus have sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him not to rescind the conscience protections on abortion that President Bush put in place.
Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania sent Obama a letter last week telling him that the Provider Conscience Clause should remain.
That is the collection of new regulations the Bush administration put on the books to provide better enforcement of three federal laws making sure medical staff and facilities are not forced to participate in abortions.
The White House announced in February that Obama is starting the process of overturning the protections and he will make a final decision after the public comment period expires in April. Pro-life advocates have been actively responding to the proposal...more
VIEW RELATED BLOG: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=13358
When intelligent Libertarians examine Barack Obama they see his high intelligence and intellect as an asset for rational thinking. Combined this with his background as a civil rights lawyer and constitutional law professor who's favorable to voluntary, free community organization, and who as a Senator, took a daring stand against the Iraq War -- it becomes easy to see that Barack Obama is more "libertarian" than not.
A general definition of a libertarian is: "A libertarian is a person who upholds the principles of individual liberty, smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom."
Barack Obama's background favors many principles held by libertarians and Libertarian Party members.
Obama has the "libertarian" advantage over McCain (or Bob Barr for that matter):
-OBAMA Upholds the principals of individual liberty:
Advantage, Obama. For libertarians, Obama's heart seems to be in the right place overall.Here are some of the principals of individual liberty which Obama supports and John McCain does NOT:
-OBAMA Wants smaller government:
Advantage, Obama. Obama's favorable to withdrawl and ending the Iraq [war] occupation saving taxpayers $100 billion+ in war spending. McCain talks a good game on against earmarks and other wasteful spending. But, as Bleeding Heartland points out, the cost of earmarks in 2007 was about $17 billion. The cost of the Iraq war, which McCain wants to both continue and expand, is about $165 billion. And earmarks don't breed new government programs that destroy our civil liberties.-OBAMA Supports lower taxes:
Advantage, Obama wants to lower taxes for MORE people (about 90-95% of taxpayers) that is everyone making less than $200,000 but raise taxes for those making over $250,000. McCain wants to lower taxes for the rich, and lower them less than Obama for the middle class. A hybrid plan would be nice, but unless you are in the "millonaire bracket" Obama's tax plan favors more people overall than McCain and one of McCain's top advisers recently said that, if elected, McCain plans to raise taxes too. (Historical Reminder: Republican George Bush Sr. said, "Read my Lips - No New Taxes" but eventually raised taxes after he was elected.)-OBAMA Wants more personal freedom:
Advantage, Obama. Only one major candidate is pro-choice, against a ban on flag burning and wants to soften drug laws and reduce the use of mandatory minimum sentences.
I am a 69 year old white woman and a faithful supporter of Barack Obama (have been for almost a year). I am expecting to have the very best birthday of my life when I turn 70 on the 4th of November, 2008, the same day that Barack Obama is elected President of the United States of America!
November 4th 2008 will be a wonderful day for our country and the entire world; it will be a rebirth of hope for peace, hope for our environment, and hope for our children and grandchildren.
And November 4th 2008 will be a wonderful birthday for me because the election of Barack Obama will help me to feel that many of the efforts of my life were not in vain.
Are we being spoon-fed the New World Order?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101400738.html?hpid=topnews
Is Bush trying to pull off an out-going administrative nationalization of all the financial and monetary banking systems so that the rich powerful elite can own it all?
Because if not, this sure sounds like something Republicans have been trying to convince everyone that "liberals" want to do to that will ruin this nation--government ownership of banking systems and a huge push to make certain that the children of the working class poor stay in Iraq protecting THEIR interests for amother 100-1,000 years?
That sounds like some of the very same socialist crap they've been accusing Democrats of.
Socialism is based in government ownership of production of goods and communal living of everyone who is being taken care of by the government. The only difference here is that the socialist plan makes it even and makes it work for everyone, this kind of crud puts control of the monetary and banking systems specifically in the hands of the elitists and leaves the rest of us out here high and dry and subject to nothing more than begging government and rich people for handouts while we work longer and harder hours only to survive andmake sure they stay rich and get richer.
Are you people sleeping or what?!
Bush has not only taken America's right to privacy and other civil liberties, he's trying to set up his family and cronies as the owners of all the oil wealth and the financial systems across the world.
No wonder those Bush-whacks are calling people in the Middle East "terrorists" and no wonder they're bombing and blowing up things in anger. Bush is doing to us what they've already done to those people they call "sand n-words."
Only we're sandal-clad minions. And he's sending in McCain to finish the job he started.
By Gocachi / Marcail Parker
Marcail parker
Was it just me, or did John McCain seem dismissive when he called Barack Obama “that one”?
If I had to choose between John McCain and Barack Obama, I would choose THAT one. When it comes to Barack Obama:
Maybe John McCain is right. Barack Obama is the one. That’s the one for me.
Black File 7001 Following my leaving the FBI after a five year long assignment, I discovered a black projected shrouded beneath the Federal Witness Protection Program that was sired by the CIA's MK-ULTRA Program. For the past eight years the Bush-Cheney administration has subjected me to actionable offences of psyops terrorism, "no-touch" invisible physical torture and threatened me with their "invention" of a criminal charge if I publish my book. I have black listed by the mainstream press and only Senator Obama and Congressman Kucinich have responded. My covert status has been commingled and outed multiple times in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code and I am seeking asylum in Canada through the U.N. Please feel free to communicate with me at BlackFile7001[AT]gmail[DOT]com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
ST. PAUL - In response to reports of widespread civil liberties abuses in connection with mass arrests, police raids on private homes and the detention of several journalists during the Republican National Convention (RNC), the American Civil Liberties Union renewed its call for an investigation into the actions of law enforcement there.
"Attempts by law enforcement to squelch lawful political speech and stifle the press have no place in our democracy and are unacceptable," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "Political conventions should be a showcase for free expression, not a venue for bullying and intimidation."The ACLU specifically called for an investigation into possible violations of the First and Fourth Amendments, including:
The ACLU affiliate office in Minnesota has assembled legal counsel for many of the reporters and peaceful protestors arrested since Monday. The ACLU of Minnesota has also filed a lawsuit in federal court calling for the release of boxes of literature that were confiscated during Monday's raids.
And they expect us to believe that McCain would not be four more years of the same?
I grew up in the Twin Cities, a prosperous and bucolic community hard on the banks of the Mississippi, the last major metropolitan area until you Lewis-and-Clark yourself over the Rockies.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are filled with wide, tree-lined streets, good schools, close-knit families, a welcoming spirit, pride in a deep civic commitment, home of the Guthrie Theatre and Walker Art Centre, and a keen, congenital sense of justice and equality. It’s a place where even wealthy, fourth and fifth generation families like the Dayton’s (Target), the Rawlings’ (General Mills), the Pillsbury’s (of Dough Boy fame, tee-hee), the McKnight’s (3M) and the Hill’s (19th century railroad tycoons) still believe in and practice a gentle, Midwestern kind of mild social democracy. Example: Most CEOs of Fortune 100 companies based here actually drive themselves to work, often parking in the lot alongside cars belonging to the woman who brings the mail around or the guy working in the cafeteria line. About the only time you see limo’s crawling the streets is prom night or for a funeral.
After all, the characters and settings in Garrison Keillor’s Lake Woebegon stories are based on his life growing up in a working class suburb of the Twin Cities. There is more truth than fiction in his recounting of the goings-on of the three Norwegian bachelor farmers, the Buttermilk Biscuit Co., and all the other good folks he turned into cultural icons.
I haven’t lived in either Minneapolis or St. Paul for nearly 20 years, and last visited when my sister died in 1999, but I’ve always thought warmly of my hometown. So I was astonished when e-mails began trickling in during the week from confused, frightened and oft-times angry friends and acquaintances back home. They wrote chilling accounts of police conducting wholesale, warrantless raids on people whose only crime is that the Secret Service and Dept. of Homeland (In)Security, aided by local police goon squads dressed in riot gear, thought they might, possibly, somewhere, somehow, exercise their 1st Amendment right to protest during the Republican National Convention.
The first inkling of what was unfolding came late Thursday morning from Nancy, my fifth grade love who grew up to become a physician and soccer mom in an upper-upper middle class suburb called Edina – a place so conservative and rich I suspect there’s a local ordinance requiring residents to vote Republican before being allowed to move in:
There’s a story this ayem about St Paul police raiding a home and arresting people who were going to protest at the convention. OK, so you know me: I voted for Bush twice and I’m no lefty loonie. But this scares me. According to ‘CCO radio, police in riot gear raided a house early this morning, arresting nine people who said they were in town to protest at the convention. But they were charged with … are you ready? … having too many people live in a residential home! What the hell?
By mid-afternoon, I’d heard from two more friends.
Mike, who has three teen-aged kids and owns a store in a mixed St. Paul neighborhood, wrote, “I don’t know what’s going on but unmarked cop cars with sirens screaming are chasing all over hell and back.” Almost simultaneously, an e-mail arrived from Ivar, a playwright, declaring, “Jesus Christ! A bunch of cops dressed like the Road Warrior just broke into a home down the street and hauled out a bunch of people in handcuffs and hoods. As they were being thrown into police vehicles, cops arrested a guy across the street taking a home video of the bust. My street looks like Burma.” He meant Myanmar but Ivar’s showing his age these days like the rest of us boomers.
By Saturday, the trickle of messages became a torrent.
To verify what friends were writing, I called the St. Paul Mayor’s Office (615.266.8510) where I was directed to the police (651.291.1111). A PR woman for the cops said I had to talk to the Secret Service (612.348.1800), which refused to answer any questions but asked for the spelling of my name before telling me to call Homeland Security (202.282.8000) where repeated calls were not returned. I tracked down a cell phone number of someone in the St. Paul convention office of the Republican National Committee where the man who answered claimed to have no idea what I was talking about, helpfully suggesting I call the police before suddenly asking how I got the number. Ring around the rosy.
It was like trying to get an answer from Dick Cheney’s office. Translation: The e-mails were accurate.
The unending barrage has continued all weekend.
From Carrie, a late 50-something who still lives in a mostly-student district near the University of Minnesota: “I saw 25 officers barge into a house wearing masks and black swat gear. They had large semi-automatic rifles. After, somebody told me the pigs (I haven’t used that word for decades) ordered everyone on the floor. Rifles pointing at their heads, they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The cops refused to show a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away computers and political stuff kept in the house.”
From Rick: “Remember Summit Avenue? Mansions, clubs, cronies, old money? A few blocks away from the Governor’s Mansion, the police just burst into a house looking for ‘photographs and maps of St. Paul.’ Shit! I have photos and maps of St. Paul! Better throw ‘em out or I’ll be next.”
From Robyn and Brent, two independents who decided this morning to vote straight a Democratic ticket: “Never thought we’d see this in America. Enya (their adopted teenage daughter) and a bunch of her friends from school were taking pictures of the convention center this morning when cops grabbed and handcuffed them, shoved them into a squad car and threatened them with arrest if they didn’t hand over the digital camera they were using to take tourist photos! She’s hysterical and we called (their lawyer). Obama and Franken just got two more votes and by the time this is over Enya’s college will be paid for with a large check from the city. Assholes.”
And so it goes.
Bucolic Lake Woebegon has turned itself into a brutal police state, intent on arresting everyone including the three Norwegian bachelor farmers, just in case. Apparently, civil liberties and the Bill of Rights got tossed into the Mississippi mud like the remains of the once-great bridge that used to span the river.
Oh, wait. We're talking about the party of George Bush, who once said of the Constitution, "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!" Guess I - along with people back in the Twin Cities - shouldn't be surprised.
Yep, he was good last night. Obama inspires. Obama can soar. I especially loved the Martin Luther King part:
With the frightening but not unsurprising news that Bush’s lickspittle Attorney General Michael Mukasey plans to spy on everyone for no legitimate reason other than collecting an enormous data base on every American’s activities, beliefs, spending, bowel movements and who knows what else just to be able to spot a terrorist, comes saner advice from Britain’s MI5: Don’t bother; profiling doesn’t work.
Given the comparative track records of MI5 and the FBI in catching real terrorists – the FBI seems to prefer opting for goofballs who usually turn out to be extortionists or, like the Miami group, a bunch of scam artists who really only wanted new boots – I’m willing to take the work of the Brits over Washington’s.
Unlike the operating assumption of the FBI, MI5’s study concludes there is no easy way to identify those who become involved in terrorism, according to a classified internal research document.
The sophisticated analysis, based on hundreds of case studies by the security service, says there is no single pathway to violent extremism. It concludes that it is not possible to draw up a typical profile of a "terrorist" as most are "demographically unremarkable" and simply reflect the communities in which they live. The MI5 report takes apart many of the common stereotypes about those involved in terrorism and de-bunks the myth pushed by the Republicans and other right wingnuts that there’s a terrorist hiding under every bed.
In fact, MI5 reports, would-be terrorists living in the West are mostly native born, not illegal immigrants and, far from being Islamist fundamentalists, most are religious novices and as likely to be born again Christians on a "mission for Christ" as they are jihadists.
Nor are they "mad and bad." Those over 30 are just as likely to have a wife and children as to be loners with no ties. The security service also plays down the importance of extremist clerics, saying their influence in radicalising Western terrorists has into the background over recent years.
The main findings include:
The majority are native born and the remainder, with a few exceptions, are here legally. Some immigrants fled traumatic experiences and oppressive regimes and claimed asylum, but more came West to study, or for family or economic reasons, and became radicalised many years after arriving. Far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation. The "mad and bad" theory to explain why people turn to terrorism does not stand up, with no more evidence of mental illness or pathological personality traits found among terrorism suspects than is found in the general population. British-based terrorists are as ethnically diverse as the UK Muslim population, with individuals from Pakistani, Middle Eastern and Caucasian backgrounds. MI5 says assumptions cannot be made about suspects based on skin colour, ethnic heritage or nationality. Most UK terrorists are male, but women also play an important role. Sometimes they are aware of the activities of husbands, brothers or sons, but do not object or try to stop them. While the majority are in their early to mid-20s when they become radicalised, a small but not insignificant minority first become involved in violent extremism at over the age of 30. Far from being lone individuals with no ties, the majority of those over 30 have steady relationships, and most have children. MI5 says this challenges the idea that terrorists lured to "martyrdom" by the promise of beautiful virgins waiting for them in paradise. It is wrong to assume that someone with a wife and children is less likely to commit acts of terrorism. Those involved in British terrorism are not unintelligent or gullible, and nor are they more likely to be well-educated; their educational achievement ranges from total lack of qualifications to degree-level education. However, they are almost all employed in low-grade jobs.
The researchers conclude that their work "challenges many of the stereotypes that are held about who becomes a terrorist and why."
Crucially, the research has revealed that those who become terrorists "are a diverse collection of individuals, fitting no single demographic profile, nor do they all follow a typical pathway to violent extremism."
The security service believes the terrorist groups operating in the West today are different in many important respects both from Islamist extremist activity in other parts of the world and from historical terrorist movements such as the IRA or the Red Army Faction.
The MI5 "operational briefing note" warns that, unless governments understand the varied backgrounds of those drawn to terrorism, the security services will fail to counter their activities in the short term and fail to prevent violent radicalisation continuing in the long term.
It also concludes that the research results have important lessons for the government's programme to tackle the spread of violent extremism, underlining the need for "attractive alternatives" to terrorist involvement but also warning that traditional law enforcement tactics could backfire if handled badly or used against people who are not seen as legitimate targets, such as those who simply hold politically extreme views.
I doubt anyone inside the FBI or Justice Dept., let alone the White House, read the MI5 study; sometimes I wonder if anyone in those particular Washington bunkers know how to read, period, and even if they do MI5 so contradicts their perverted view of “justice” that they won’t pay heed anyway. But as Bush, Cheney, McCain and Mukasey try setting up one more permanent violation of the law before they’re kicked out of town still wearing the brown shirts and jackboots they seem to love, it behoves Congress to put a stop to this nonsense when it reconvenes in September.
By Christopher KetchamIllustration by Brett RyderApril 29, 2008http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20080430182318128Wednesday, April 30 2008
For decades the federal government has been developing a highly classified plan that would override the Constitution in the event of a terrorist attack. Is it also compiling a secret enemies list of citizens who could face detention under martial law?
"When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence they were not worried about political will, how much time there was, or about any parties' political future, they were just worried they were going to be hanged by the neck. But they did what was right. Now it is your time." Elliott Adams, President, Veterans for Peace, testimony July 25, 2008
We live in the era of convenience. We want infotainment, not information. We want immediate gratification, not short-term sacrifice for long-term reward. We want it all, and we want it NOW, as an HDTV commercial playing the Queen song states emphatically.
But are we willing to work for it? Are we willing to make the sacrifices necessaru to make it happen?
ABRAMS: So, what's the problem?WATKINS: The problem is this--speeches like that are reserved for the commander-in-chief of the United States. The commander-in-chief speaks with the American people. Barack Obama is not just a citizen of the world or citizen of the United States, he is the presumptive Democratic nominee.They know he's running for the presidency and what you do when you give a speech like that and you're not the commander-in-chief of all the American people, is that you undermine the institution of the president.
WATKINS: The problem is this--speeches like that are reserved for the commander-in-chief of the United States. The commander-in-chief speaks with the American people. Barack Obama is not just a citizen of the world or citizen of the United States, he is the presumptive Democratic nominee.
They know he's running for the presidency and what you do when you give a speech like that and you're not the commander-in-chief of all the American people, is that you undermine the institution of the president.
