Is the United States Constitution powerful enough to be a bulwark against the threats of its internal enemies? TPM Muckraker published (10/31/08) the Department of Justice’s list of counties where DOJ election monitors will be deployed, adding that it “looks on the level.” This sounds good. Five counties in Texas will be involved. Other TPM Muckraker related election stories do not sound so good:
“Even the least of these” — Diverse Americans must come under the protection of of the eagle’s wings. Racism does not die easily, as this election has unfortunately shown. This is a wonderful piece that illustrates my point: “Commentary: Republicans summon ugly old ghosts#” is by my favorite, Joey Galloway, a McClatchy columnist extraordinaire. He concludes with wise words:
Here’s a prediction for you, for them: McCain and Palin will go down to defeat by 15 to 20 points, and they’ll take a heap of Republicans down with them.
The financial collapse and the painful fallout that’s stalking the nation won’t be righted overnight, however. Putting Barack Obama in the White House and giving the Democrats a veto-proof majority in Congress won’t mean that happy days are here again.
Hard work, sacrifice and suffering lie ahead. It could take a decade or more to repair all the damage that Bush, Dick Cheney and all their henchmen in prison, out of prison and on their way to prison have done to our economy, our military, our standing in the world, our Constitution and to civil discourse, common decency and competent governance.
In the meantime, we Americans would do well to try to remember all those things that our grandmothers told us about how to get by in hard times.
How to get by on a lot less.
How to grow a vegetable garden.
How to squeeze a nickel till the buffalo bellows.
How to appreciate the small joys of family and friends.
How to share what you have, no matter how little you have, with those who have nothing.
Someday we may be able to tell our grandchildren about the Election of ‘08 when we, the people, turned away from anger, hate and greed and once again embraced the better angels of our nature.
Defending their rights to say these awful things is tough but necessary. Sarah Palin made a head-spinning statement in a radio interview Friday that Glenn Greenwald brilliantly explored in a recent post. Palin’s comment was to the effect that press freedom is a threat to the First Amendment. Unfortunately, this time the Constitution protection of free speech may be on the side House Minority Leader John Boehner’s recent use of an expletive to describe Senator Barack Obama#. It may also be on the side of Elizabeth Dole’s vile campaign ad#. Her opponent has every right to go to court protesting that she has been defamed, but candidates open themselves to being unfairly targeted when running for office.
Equality under the law – Another right-winger, Dennis Prager’s comment, that “Equality is a European value*,” is also allowed. But, thankfully, others, such as Ali Frick at Think Progress, can rebut the statement with sarcastic irony:
Or if they had looked to the United States Constitution, they may have erroneously thought “equality” was an important American value:
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Thankfully, Dennis Prager is here to protect and defend American inequality.
Help is on the way — Thinking ahead and probably assuming that OBama wins (I cannot imagine MCCain would be interested), Anthony Romero of the ACLU announced that his organization has developed an action plan for helping the next administration to restore the Constitution. To quote his e-mail:
October 31 , 2008
ACLU Releases Presidential Transition Plan to Restore Civil Liberties
In anticipation of the presidential election, the ACLU released a set of recommendations detailing steps that the new president should take to “clean house,” renew freedom, and restore the nation’s reputation.
“This past administration has left us with a disastrous legacy of bad policy, abuse of power, and civil liberties violations,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington Legislative Office. “The next president, whoever he is, must immediately begin the process of undoing this far-reaching assault on our nation’s freedoms and core values, and the ACLU’s ‘to do’ list provides a detailed roadmap for achieving that.”
”Actions For Restoring America,” outlines actions to be taken by the next president on his first day in office, in his first 100 days, and in his first year.
The 83-page document proposes actions across a wide variety of topics, including national security, human rights, women’s rights, civil rights, drug policy, the rights of LGBT Americans, immigrants and prisoners, privacy and free speech.
Read the entire ACLU transition plan including suggested executive orders, mandates and directives from the president.
A few ideas on other questions posed in my post — “When Judges Make Foreign Policy - United States Supreme Court,” is a great analysis of how important constitutional checks and balances in foreign policy have become in recent years. Worth the read, it was written by Noah Feldman at The New York Times (10/28/08). Feldman begins,
Every generation gets the Constitution that it deserves. As the central preoccupations of an era make their way into the legal system, the Supreme Court eventually weighs in, and nine lawyers in robes become oracles of our national identity.
. . . how the justices will address critical issues of American foreign policy in the future hangs very much in the balance. This may seem like an odd way of thinking about international affairs. In the coming presidential election, every voter understands that there is a choice to be made between the foreign-policy visions of John McCain and Barack Obama. What is less obvious, but no less important, is that Supreme Court appointments have become a de facto part of American foreign policy. The court, like the State Department and the Pentagon, now makes decisions in cases that directly change and shape our relationship with the world. And as the justices decide these cases, they are doing as much as anyone to shape America’s fortunes in an age of global terror and economic turmoil.
. . . Charged with interpreting the Constitution and therefore shaping its contemporary orientation, the Supreme Court needs to be extraordinarily sensitive to the demands of history. When the court gets it wrong, the consequences can be serious. The Constitution we get will still be the one we deserve, but our deserts need not be good ones. The Constitution, let us not forget, gave us slavery and segregation. It gave us dysfunctional limitations on progressive legislation that was desperately needed in the years before the Great Depression. We like to think the Constitution is always leading us toward a more perfect union. But this has not always been the case, and as with any experiment, there is no guarantee that it will be in the future.
My conclusion today is that the Consitution will be up to the current challenges, ALL of them. Bring on the election!
Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.
View my current slide show about the Bush years — “Millennium” — at the bottom of this column.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics constitution republicans courts 2008 elections
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(image by Wordle)
Early voting in the 2008 U.S. elections is going at a record setting pace, according to Politico, who called it an,
“avalanche.
. . Whether encouraged by state officials to vote early and reduce the chaos and lines on Election Day, or pushed by campaigns to convert
enthusiasm into tangible results, the shift to early balloting has made Election Day more of a final deadline than a one-day event.”
The two people in our household have already voted for Barack Obama, just Friday. Because we have Texas official voter registration certificates, we were not required to show a picture ID. My roommate voted “straight Democrat.” I almost did, but could not resist voting for an acquaintance who is a longtime Republican U.S. Representative. I worked in her very first campaign decades ago. Like most voters, I can be sentimental as well as partisan, and occasionally irrational.
These voters from California were duped by a GOP voter registration scheme that got an operative arrested: Think Progress# reported that, “Voters charge that Mark Jacoby duped them into joining the California Republican Party by making them believe they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.” Need more? Bob Cesca posted the “crazy e-mail of the week not long ago*.”
Politicians can also behave irrationally#. There are those who believe that Republicans coming out for Barack Obama is irrational. George Packer#, great writer at The New Yorker, reveals that Ken Adelman has joined Colin Powell in endorsing Obama.
If the world could vote#, according to a Gallup poll, Obama would get 67%, McCain would get 22%, and 11% said they did not know or refused to respond. Also, 75% of the respondents said that the election in the U.S. would make a difference in their own country. Again 22% said it would not, and only 3% did not know or refused to answer. (Great interactive map).
It is just a few days until the actual Election Day, November 4. If you are thinking you will get an early start on the day’s results by keeping up with exit polls, you might want to read this article by Ed Kilgore at The Democratic Strategist: “Exit polls: Not So Fast.” It explains changes made in the network sponsored polling operation.
More Little tidbits for your dining pleasure:
Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics 2008 elections obama mccain voting
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While walking down the street one day a US Senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
‘Welcome to heaven,’ says St. Peter. ‘Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts,you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.’
‘No problem, just let me in,’ says the man.
‘Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.’
‘Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,’ says the senator.
‘I’m sorry, but we have our rules.’
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.
‘Now it’s time to visit heaven.’
So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
‘Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.’
The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: ‘Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.’
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down,down,down to hell.
Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.
‘I don’t understand,’ stammers the senator. ‘Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.
What happened?’
The devil looks at him, smiles and says, ‘Yesterday we were campaigning…. Today you voted.’
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“To Sin by Silence, when they should protest makes Cowards out of men.”
Abraham Lincoln
“Are we Still Broken ?” So I have a neighbor down the street that I run into walking the dog. An older fellow, WWII Vet who is wise, sarcastic and pissed. He makes me laugh, he makes think. His caustic wisdom is as insightful as it is painful. We have discussed everything from the GI Bill that was not good enough for McCain to Iraq to Oil to Hillary to Obama to Home Foreclosures to Fearmongering.Here is a smattering of some of his wisdom.
” I may be an old Fool, but I am old enough to know that I want Someone Young at the Helm. And I want someone that will tell me if the Bus Is Broken…which it is.” He says this with a wrinkled smile.
“And you can bet this election those Damn Repug Fools will be trying to scare us with some kind of Terror Tomfoolery”.
“Nixon would have called these Criminals Real Crooks”.
So last weekend, he is out working on his yard and I eavesdropped on his conversation with his neighbor, the retired teacher, the Hillary supporter. He was making conversation with her as she took Hillary sign out of her yard. She was complaining that it was an Awful Process, and that she was going to put the sign back in her yard during the Denver Convention. And she told him that she was not going to vote.
He stopped what he was doing and stared at her jaw gaping, eyes huge.
“You are kidding me right?”
“No, I am not, I am not voting. I can not be part of this process any longer, so I just won’t be. It was her Turn, Not His.”
I watched him get flushed and he had stopped raking and was staring at her hard, I knew that he was going to have to say Something. I watched him take a deep breath and get ready to let her have a piece of his mind.
” Now I have to say. I have known you for some years, but you have me a bit confused. You mean to say when I went and fought the Evil Germans who destroyed their country and many other countries, I was not protecting Freedoms of ALL Americans ? Only Some Americans? And that I was not protecting People that Value the Right to Vote ? Or the People who believe in the Constitution ? And those poor kids over in Iraq right now, WHO is going to Vote to get them Home ? Because you know McCain will leave them there forever, because in his mind, this is NOT as bad as Vietnam. So in this America, that is “Our” America, it is only a partial thing, like sometimes you feel American and sometimes you don’t ? And you can pretend that Other People, like me and kids in Iraq don’t need your Vote or need you to care ? That is the most Selfish Thing I have ever heard.”
He sighed and then finished, ” When my nephew gets home from that Hellhole, I will be sure to tell him that not everyone wanted to help get him home.”
He looked at her hard, put his rake against the tree and went inside , mumbling about his BP meds.She just stared at him. I continued picking up dog poo and would not look her in the eye, I figured she should be alone with what he said to her. She had been thoroughly schooled and his words hung heavy still in the air.
********************************
John Cusack was on Countdown last week and he asked a really poignant question. He pointed out that if you are not an Activist now, when would you be ? It is a really good question. We are beyond Broken at this point, and we are not going to get infinite chances to fix any of this. The Bush Regime fearmongered us and warmongered us , meanwhile they have broken every single system that we need as a Nation to survive, from Foreign Diplomacy to Infrastructure, to Justice to Energy, to the Constitution to Healthcare.
We are so Broken that the Bigger Question is , is Our Collective Humanity Broken ? Is Our Vision Broken? Because Myoptic Apathy does Kill…..If you don’t believe me, I have my Neighbor, The WWII Vet who will tell you about what Germany Looked like after Hitler created a nation of people who were not “involved”. Admitting we are Broken is one thing, deciding to Do Something about that is Another.Our Future is in Our Hands.
***************
Art: “The Homecoming” by Norman Rockwell
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Steve Bates, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat, has a great post that needs reading. It really talks about the big picture. I applaud him.
He says:
When I was 25, I probably would have felt the same way. Voting was a personal thing, and my vote was for the candidate about whom I felt most strongly. Now, at the end of almost six decades of hard experience, I pursue voting as a strategic matter, and my vote is determined almost entirely by what I perceive to be the larger outcome, the consequences of the election in the broader context. If that vote happens to coincide with my personal preference for a candidate, that’s nice… but my personal preference is not the determining factor in my vote. And I will argue that your personal preference should not be dispositive of your vote, either. Voting is, first and foremost, a civic duty, not a vehicle for personal satisfaction.
I cannot agree more. My first choice for a Democratic Candidate was Dennis Kuchinich. He dropped out, I moved on to John Edwards. He dropped out, and I moved on to Barack Obama. And if Hillary Clinton had become the nominee, I would have moved on to her. Voting is a resposibility, not a popularity contest. It is about a bigger picture. So to those people who say “Clinton lost, I’m not voting”, I congratulate you in advance for helping hand the election to McCain. To those who intend to vote for a 3rd Party candidate, someone as unviable as Ralph Nadar or Ron Paul, again, this is a wasted vote. It is NOT making a statement. If you want to change the system, do it from within. It is possible.
Go read Steve Bates’ full post. The Diva has spoken.
Crossposted at Journeys with Jood.
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A lot of potential voters are feeling the strain of the current primary battle going on between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Of course, Obama’s supporters are up in arms about the Clinton camp’s apparent racial comments, not to mention the apparent “slips of the tongue” that seem to be a regular part of Hillary’s stump speeches.
As well, Clinton’s supporters are up in arms about the apparent misogynistic comments coming from the Obama camp. Many even argue that Clinton deserves the Democratic nomination simply because she’s a woman (their argument is that sex should trump race in this election).
Then, there are those Democrats and Progressives who aren’t keen on either candidate, for whatever reason. Of course, they wouldn’t dream of ever voting for a Republican, particularly not John McCain. Many voters are also not keen on voting for relatively or veritably unknown third-party candidates, either.
Many people believe that voting for either a Democrat or a Republican is a sell-out vote, no matter how you cut it. They call it “voting for the lesser of two evils” and of course, that means, no matter how you vote, you are still voting for “evil”. And, there are a lot of people who are not down for voting for “evil”, but they still want their vote to be heard. Instead of “voting for the lesser of two evils”, they prefer to vote “None of the Above” or “NOTA”.
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voting Our Biased Media and the Election Process
By PraetorOne
“We can do The Innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it’s said and done we haven’t told you a thing
We all know that Crap is King
Give us dirty laundry!”
From Don Henley’s “Dirty Laundry.”
Did anyone catch the last debate between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama? I did and the whole thing struck me as a farce. Is there anyone out there who doubts that Hilary had been informed about the nature of the questions ahead of time? That may sound preposterous but let’s remember that one of the panel members was George Stephanopolis, a butt-sniffing political hack with long standing ties to the Clinton Administration. And while I may be pushing the envelope I don;t think there’s any doubt that Hilary was handled with kid gloves on while Obama was treated like a victim of the Spanish Inquisition. By any standard, Hilary was treated with kid gloves on while Barack was treated like shit.
Even more revealing was the body language. Both Hilary and the moderators betrayed the same degree of smugness. Indeed there were times when I wanted to slap the smirks off of all their faces. Whenever Hilary received a question she just stood there with a knowing, arrogant grin on her face. Whenever she answered a question the degree of smug arrogance reached a new peak. It was almost as if she didn’t even need to think about the answers because she had already been coached. In sharp contrast, Obama seemed attentive. He was concentrating and trying to give the best answers possible. Indeed, the only time Hilary looked nervous and worried was when Obama responded to one of the more difficult questions–possibly because these were the only moments when she wasn’t in full control or hadn’t been coached ahead of time. There’s a huge difference between sticking to your prepackaged responses and worrying about what your opponent is going to do or say off script.
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The Yes We Can Song
by will.i.am
I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates…
Torn between the candidates
I was never really big on politics…
and actually I’m still not big on politics…
but 4 years ago, me and the black eyed peas supported Kerry…
And we supported Kerry with all our might…
We performed and performed and performed for the DNC…
doing all we could do to get the youth involved…
The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me…
on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful,
corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and “politics” are…
So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early…
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i was accused of being in a state of “narrow minded negativity” recently because apparently, i refuse to see change.
it’s only partially true. i do see change- and i do appreciate it but i am one who doesn’t shy away from raising the bar higher. i am someone who believes adults should act like adults and not overgrown adolescents- so, i guess i do tend to come out more on the pessimistic side of life.
i continue to be amazed by the number of people who would love to vote for dennis kucinich- but he has no chance of winning the nomination. thankfully though- he is part of the process and is necessary to ‘further the conversation’ for the more viable candidates (snark). divajood gave us all a snicker with her onion video recently, but i think we probably were chuckling more because it’s really true. love that satire.
we love to talk about change- and i have a feeling that’s why obama is doing so well- that’s his platform- his message. change. i don’t doubt his heart is in the right place and i don’t doubt he will try if elected.
there are those who see hard work as more important than the showier rhetoric- and i fall into that category- but i would also throw in integrity- and i have a feeling mrs. clinton is a wee lacking there. she assured us new yorkers she was running for re-election to be there as our senator. well, see where that got us.
how many interviews and how much proof do we need that kucinich would be someone who could start the process of leading us out of this nightmare? he believes in separation of church and state- he most definitely believes in restoring the constitution- he believes in ending the middle east invasion- if you don’t believe me- check out his own words. just google the man. he has a beautiful, compassionate, brilliant wife sans botox injections- and he puts his money where his mouth is.
yes, iowa is over and new hampshire is looming, but don’t let that sway your decision- take a look at the issues. take a look at the candidate’s stands- they all have websites- it only takes a moment. don’t buy what the pundits and corporate owned msm is telling you. take a hard look at the issues that are important to you- and where the candidates stand. then vote.
dennis kucinich for president
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from larry johnson’s ‘no quarter’
our nation’s “lonely eyes” seek a savior
“What’s behind the astonishing successes of Mike Huckabee’s and Barack Obama’s campaigns last night in Iowa? BBC correspondent Katty Kay knows. People are “fed up,” she said tonight on BBCAmerica’s exceptional hour-long news program, BBC World News America. Ms. Kay continued:
It’s the wonderful age-old mantra of “I can fix it for you by being an outsider. I am on your side.”
We are “fed up” alright. We, the people of this nation, are so desperate to get past the Bush administration that we’ve been obsessing since last year about the race for a president who won’t take office until late January 2009. In the last of his series of columns for The Guardian – which The New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg says is “an unparalleled running history of the ideological and moral squalor of the George W. Bush Administration” – Sidney Blumenthal summed up how far America has fallen:
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