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Saturday, December 31, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
No Anti-Gay Amendment to Constitution
Urge your representatives in Washington to oppose any language amending the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman, which would as well invalidate all the protections that many families currently enjoy.
Amending the Constitution is an extreme act. The proposed amendment before Congress would deny the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples and also obliterate the family rights that many same-sex couples- and unmarried heterosexual couples -- and their families now have. Revising the Constitution to incorporate discrimination against anyone in America is wrong and should be rejected.
These proposed, so-called 'reforms' are unnecessary and wrong. Even though the country has periodically struggled with the question of marriage -- the last law prohibiting people of different races from marrying was overturned only 35 years ago-we have never taken the step of amending the Constitution to define marriage. Now is not the time to begin to use the Constitution as a tool for discrimination. Congress certainly has more important issues to consider.
Attempts to amend the Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman rejects American traditions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would reverse the constitutional tradition of protecting individual freedoms. None of our constitutional amendments restrict individual freedoms. In fact, the amendments to the Constitution have been the source of most of the Constitution's protections for individual liberty rights. The proposed amendment, by contrast, would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of people in committed long-term relationships.
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Amending the Constitution is an extreme act. The proposed amendment before Congress would deny the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples and also obliterate the family rights that many same-sex couples- and unmarried heterosexual couples -- and their families now have. Revising the Constitution to incorporate discrimination against anyone in America is wrong and should be rejected.
These proposed, so-called 'reforms' are unnecessary and wrong. Even though the country has periodically struggled with the question of marriage -- the last law prohibiting people of different races from marrying was overturned only 35 years ago-we have never taken the step of amending the Constitution to define marriage. Now is not the time to begin to use the Constitution as a tool for discrimination. Congress certainly has more important issues to consider.
Attempts to amend the Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman rejects American traditions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would reverse the constitutional tradition of protecting individual freedoms. None of our constitutional amendments restrict individual freedoms. In fact, the amendments to the Constitution have been the source of most of the Constitution's protections for individual liberty rights. The proposed amendment, by contrast, would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of people in committed long-term relationships.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
The Grinch is in Washington
Congress is considering imposing an across-the-board spending cut to ALL programs. There are any number of bills they may try to slip the cuts onto as Congress rushes to finish its business and leave town for the year. Our country is better than this - we can't allow further cuts to the programs that millions of vulnerable Americans count on. Across-the-board budget cuts deserve an "up or down vote" on their own merits not by trying to slip them in by adding them to popular, “must pass” bills.
Contact your congresspeople and ask them to fight the inclusion of across-the-board cuts in ANY bill. This is NOT the way to cut deficits on the backs of poor and at-risk Americans while giving billions away in tax cuts to the rich and corporations!
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Contact your congresspeople and ask them to fight the inclusion of across-the-board cuts in ANY bill. This is NOT the way to cut deficits on the backs of poor and at-risk Americans while giving billions away in tax cuts to the rich and corporations!
Go to the sidebar resources and get their email addresses and phone numbers!
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Thursday, December 15, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
Moyers Exposes Obsessive Bush Administration Secrecy
In a speech today before the National Security Archive on its 20th Anniversary (covered by CSPAN), longtime investigative journalist Bill Moyers exposed the extensive attempts and successes of the Bush administration at keeping government and its operations secret. The evidence presented exposed the Bush administration as the most obsessively secret in American history.
His speech, one of a series given at different venues of late, not only slams the present administration with stiffling programming at PBS (the facts of which has become well known in 'mainstream' press recently with the expose' of the shennanigans of the Bush administration in appointing political cronies and hacks to the PBS board of directors, and their attempts to influence programming to reflect their right wing agenda); but by giving a brief history of the attempts by such figures as Donald Rumsfeld and Anthony Scalia, in previous incarnations, conducting similar activities in trying to undermine the Freedom of Information Act.
He outlined a long litany of mostly successful Bush administration secret attempts (though many now exposed through whistleblowers, etc.) to gut the scientific community's influence in the Interior Dept., the EPA, the Institutes of Public Health and other agencies; replacing scientific facts and recommendations with the wishes and dogmatic assertions of right wing and fundamentalist christian supporters. The result has been that administration policy in many of these areas is based on falsified reports and papers, ranging from global warming to reproductive health.
------------------------------------------------
These disturbing facts, in conjunction with the revelations of secretive administration efforts to falsify intelligence in the lead up to the Iraq War, and the subsequent inept coverup, lead to the frightening reality of an administration gone awry amidst paranoia and an overwhelming reluctance to submit its fantatical ideology to valid argument and evidence.
Nixon Redux- with a bit of fanaticism and lack of competence thrown in!
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(permalink- Daily Kos)
His speech, one of a series given at different venues of late, not only slams the present administration with stiffling programming at PBS (the facts of which has become well known in 'mainstream' press recently with the expose' of the shennanigans of the Bush administration in appointing political cronies and hacks to the PBS board of directors, and their attempts to influence programming to reflect their right wing agenda); but by giving a brief history of the attempts by such figures as Donald Rumsfeld and Anthony Scalia, in previous incarnations, conducting similar activities in trying to undermine the Freedom of Information Act.
He outlined a long litany of mostly successful Bush administration secret attempts (though many now exposed through whistleblowers, etc.) to gut the scientific community's influence in the Interior Dept., the EPA, the Institutes of Public Health and other agencies; replacing scientific facts and recommendations with the wishes and dogmatic assertions of right wing and fundamentalist christian supporters. The result has been that administration policy in many of these areas is based on falsified reports and papers, ranging from global warming to reproductive health.
------------------------------------------------
These disturbing facts, in conjunction with the revelations of secretive administration efforts to falsify intelligence in the lead up to the Iraq War, and the subsequent inept coverup, lead to the frightening reality of an administration gone awry amidst paranoia and an overwhelming reluctance to submit its fantatical ideology to valid argument and evidence.
Nixon Redux- with a bit of fanaticism and lack of competence thrown in!
Blog On
(permalink- Daily Kos)
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Friday, December 02, 2005
Bush Justice Dept. Cronies Gut Voting Rights Act
Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Texas and other states with a history of discriminatory elections are required to submit changes in their voting systems or election maps for approval by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by the Washington Post. But senior [political appointee] officials overruled them and approved the plan.
''The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect," the memo concluded.
The 73-page memo, dated Dec. 12, 2003, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections. Lawyers who worked on the case were subjected to a gag rule. (The memo was provided to the Post by a person connected to the case who is critical of the adopted redistricting map.)
Because a federal three-judge panel rejected a Democratic Party challenge to the redistricting plan, the case is on appeal to the US Supreme Court.
--edited from an article by Dan Eggen, Washington Post December 2, 2005
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It is no wonder that with a corrupt political environment like this at Justice, career lawyers and professionals there are leaving in droves.
Among other things, this new information adds to evidence that the Bush administration let's its fundamentalist right wing ideology be final arbiter in decisions covering science to civil rights, whether or not the facts warrant. It looks as though this decision may come back to bite them legally, though. For one thing, slimey Tom Delay's fingerprints are all over it and Justice Dept. career officials, who are entrusted with making decisions in this area, are totally against the decision. It will be interesting to see how the 'new' Supreme Court sees it.
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Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by the Washington Post. But senior [political appointee] officials overruled them and approved the plan.
''The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect," the memo concluded.
The 73-page memo, dated Dec. 12, 2003, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections. Lawyers who worked on the case were subjected to a gag rule. (The memo was provided to the Post by a person connected to the case who is critical of the adopted redistricting map.)
Mark Posner, a longtime Justice Department lawyer who now teaches law at American University, said it was ''highly unusual" for political appointees to overrule a unanimous finding such as the one in the Texas case. ''In this kind of situation, where everybody agrees at least on the staff level . . . that is a very, very strong case," he said. ''The fact that everybody agreed that there were reductions in minority voting strength, and that they were significant, raises a lot of questions as to why it was" approved, he said.
Because a federal three-judge panel rejected a Democratic Party challenge to the redistricting plan, the case is on appeal to the US Supreme Court.
--edited from an article by Dan Eggen, Washington Post December 2, 2005
----------------------------------------------------
It is no wonder that with a corrupt political environment like this at Justice, career lawyers and professionals there are leaving in droves.
Among other things, this new information adds to evidence that the Bush administration let's its fundamentalist right wing ideology be final arbiter in decisions covering science to civil rights, whether or not the facts warrant. It looks as though this decision may come back to bite them legally, though. For one thing, slimey Tom Delay's fingerprints are all over it and Justice Dept. career officials, who are entrusted with making decisions in this area, are totally against the decision. It will be interesting to see how the 'new' Supreme Court sees it.
BLOG ON
Thursday, December 01, 2005
UN Report: US Poverty a Human Rights Violation
From the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva:
"Poverty is not only deprivation of economic or material resources, but a violation of human rights, too. . .No social phenomenon is as comprehensive in its assault on human rights as poverty. . .Poverty erodes or nullifies economic and social rights such as the right to health, adequate housing, food, safe water, and the right to education."
". . . the [limited] reach of the assistance programs and social discrimination [in the United States] has aggravated the problems in many situations, resulting in poverty clearly seen as a violation of human rights," Dr. Arjun Sengupta stated in his official report to the OHCHR. This was after an extensive fact finding visit to the United States last month. "If the United States government designed and implemented the policies according to human rights standards much of the problem of poverty could be resolved," he added.
Dr. Sengupta, a top expert on human rights and extreme poverty of the OHCHR, also said, "The case of the United States was particularly interesting as it presented an apparent paradox: as the wealthiest country on Earth, with higher per capita income levels than any other country, the United States has also had one of the highest incidences of poverty among the rich industrialized nations,".
The official findings, released in his OHCHR report on poverty in the United States:
"Poverty is not only deprivation of economic or material resources, but a violation of human rights, too. . .No social phenomenon is as comprehensive in its assault on human rights as poverty. . .Poverty erodes or nullifies economic and social rights such as the right to health, adequate housing, food, safe water, and the right to education."
". . . the [limited] reach of the assistance programs and social discrimination [in the United States] has aggravated the problems in many situations, resulting in poverty clearly seen as a violation of human rights," Dr. Arjun Sengupta stated in his official report to the OHCHR. This was after an extensive fact finding visit to the United States last month. "If the United States government designed and implemented the policies according to human rights standards much of the problem of poverty could be resolved," he added.
Dr. Sengupta, a top expert on human rights and extreme poverty of the OHCHR, also said, "The case of the United States was particularly interesting as it presented an apparent paradox: as the wealthiest country on Earth, with higher per capita income levels than any other country, the United States has also had one of the highest incidences of poverty among the rich industrialized nations,".
The official findings, released in his OHCHR report on poverty in the United States:
*12 percent of the United States population--or about 37 million people--lived in poverty in 2004, with nearly 16 percent--or about 46 million--having no health insurance.
*38 million people, including 14 million children, are threatened by lack of food.
*Ethnic minorities are suffering more from extreme poverty than white Americans. Compared to one in ten Whites, nearly one in four Blacks and more than one out of every five Latinos are extremely poor in the United States.
*Incidence of poverty, including food insecurity and homelessness, has been on the rise during the Bush administration.
*High costs of healthcare, inadequate access to quality education and vocational training, low wages, limited protection of tenants, and lack of low-cost housing are major factors posing "serious obstacles" to people struggling to get out of poverty.*
-Edited from the 11/15/05 press release of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.
*This report corresponds beautifully with the recent report of the Census Bureau, both ignored by Republican Washington and it's lapdog press.
***
--THE UNITED STATES IS A FIRST WORLD COUNTRY WELL ON IT'S WAY TO THIRD WORLD STATUS (WE DO LOVE OUR BANANAS, DON'T WE?). . .SAD, SAD, SAD.
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-permalinked with planet patriot diary at Daily Kos, click on link. . .
-permalinked with planet patriot diary at Daily Kos, click on link. . .
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