("Why I support __" posts are always welcome. - promoted by mooncat)
I started out last fall looking forward to Ron Sparks becoming the next governor of Alabama. Like many people in the state, I was in the minority that has rallied for and campaigned desperately for Obama, but I knew that there were some barriers that would never be crossed in Alabama. So, like most of my friends I rallied around the likely nominee of Ron Sparks, as he was hailed as the “most electable.” How wrong the pundits are, and how blind I was looking back at that time.
I first came to learn of Artur Davis by looking into what he has done on the Federal Level for his district, and what kind of action we can expect from him as our Governor. Needless to say I am impressed and very pleased by not only how he has shown repeatedly his passion for his district, but the best interests of the Alabama people.
Heard this on NPR this afternoon -- my jaw absolutely hit the floor. From the Progressive Electorate:
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a rare innocence claim hearing in the Troy Anthony Davis case.
...
ustice Antonin Scalia along with Justice Clarence Thomas issued dissents. Here's part of what Scalia said
This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is "actually" innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged "actual innocence" is constitutionally cognizable
In Scalia's world it does not matter when a person is found to be innocent. The constitution is once again thrown out the window and stomped upon by one who is suppose to be a "wise conservative". Scalia argues past procedure weight over the result of an innocent man being put to death.
Ninth Circuit Quashes Bush/Obama 'State Secrets' ExpansionTuesday, April 28th, 2009 Before the Bush administration, the 'state secrets' doctrine was used to exclude certain bits of evidence from trials if the judge agreed with the Executive Branch that damage to national security could result.
The Bush administration attempted to expand the doctrine so that whole lawsuits could be dismissed on the Executive's motion, with the Executive as the sole arbiter of whether national security was at risk - even when the complaint was that the Executive's conduct was illegal. To the surprise of many, the Obama administration maintained the Bush position in pending lawsuits wherein the state secrets doctrine was at issue.
A three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit today unanimously reversed a District Court's agreement with the Bush/Obama expansion of the state secrets doctrine - a result cheered by civil libertarians and proponents of open government.
(What a great reason to be politically active! - promoted by mooncat)
January 31 at 23:48 I became grandpa to two grandgals. I had a little help from my daughter, her man, the grandmother, the doctors, and the nurses. Factor in the ancestors too; they deserve a little of the credit. Of course the Holy One was ever present and got its all Is in. The eldest, born 23:48, weighed three pounds and fifteen ounces eighteen and a quarter inches long, head eleven and a half inches, and chest ten and a quarter inches. Little sister born thirty seconds later weighed three pounds and ten ounces, seventeen inches long, head eleven and a quarter inches, and chest ten and a half inches. They were premature but now thrive and grow long and strong. Send love and prayers to me, also to my daughter even though she is just the mother. If you want to send something homemade that is lovely and loving and insures their futures, support the U.S.Constitution.
I am political because of them, especially for them. Beware! I am grandpa!
Defending and protecting the Constitution is finally coming back into vogue. After 9/11/2001, the Constitution fell from favor in Washington and much of the country. George W. Bush said "freedom and fear are at war." They sure were. What he didn't tell us is that he was on the side of fear, which the Republicans wielded very effectively to influence elections, increase executive power, and generally run roughshod over the Constitution. Thankfully, it looks like the Democratic party is finally ready to put protecting the Constitution front and center again.
Because if you are ready for change, then you can elect a president who has taught the Constitution, and believes in the Constitution, and will obey the Constitution of the United States of America. -- Houston, TX, February 19, 2008.
And then there's the FISA victory in the House of Representatives last week -- a triumph of freedom over fear. From Crooks and Liars:
Here we are with the media soaking up the airwaves and papers with tales of Paris Hilton or some other irrelevant nonsense while there is a systematic treachery in the houses of CONgress with the ominous trail of legislation quietly enacted that legitimizes the destruction of all that has set us as a nation apart -- protection from unwarranted search and seizure, habeas corpus, safeguards against military or monarchical rule, renunciation of torture....
A quartet of laws has been signed that lays the complete legal foundation for the takeover of our constitutional republic. They are the (so-called) Patriot Act of 2001 (extended in 2005); the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (which allows for the suspension of habeas corpus and the practice of torture and rendition); the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which facilitates the declaration of martial law and nullifies posse comitatus by allowing the President to station troops anywhere in the country and to commandeer the National Guard without the consent of local authorities; and, finally, the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007, which in the event of a catastrophe would place all governmental authority in the hands of the President.
THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.
The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network...
Edmonds had told this newspaper that members of the Turkish political and diplomatic community in the US had been actively acquiring nuclear secrets. They often acted as a conduit, she said, for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, because they attracted less suspicion. [North Korea is another]
"Then they said when -- not if -- martial law is declared, it was our responsibility to protect our portion of the infrastructure, and if we had to use deadly force to protect it, we couldn't be prosecuted," he says.
OK, I've got it out of my system, now. Tell me I'm uberparanoid, I don't mind. I'd rather be nuts than thinking about the scenario this creates in my tiny mind. ^o^ a late addition, but I thought it was a pretty good quote!
(Just you think Alabama's reputation and the quality of our elected representatives can't sink any lower.....
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions opens his mouth.
- promoted by countrycat)
Huge tool, Jeff Sessions, in discussing the FISA bill actually said on the floor of the senate the following:
"Some people in this chamber love the Constitution more than the love the safety of this nation.
We should all send President bush a letter thanking him for protecting us."
End quote
Count me in the constitution lovers camp. Attention VIV FIGURES!!! This is your next campaign ad. Can there be a clearer statement of Republican fear based hackery? I would add that Harry is selling the progressives out on this one, kids. I support Dodd for Majority Leader.Who's with me?
(People we need to get this out in the open - promoted by mooncat)
A big Alabama welcome to readers of the Senate 2008 guru blog. Look around and make yourselves at home!
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee voted 11-8 to restore the right of Habeas Corpus, which the Republican congress eliminated last fall as part of the Military Commisions act. Habeas Corpus is the right of anyone to challenge their detention in court - in other words, it is the right to force the government to obey the law. Known also as the Great Writ, it has been part of the U.S. Constitution since 1789 and was actually included in the Magna Carta in 1215. Habeas is the right that guarantees all the others - freedom of speech, religion, and the press; the right to bear arms, protection from self-incrimination - everything. Listen to people who are smarter than me explain it:
Jeff Sessions voted against this.
Why?
Why does Jeff Session oppose the most fundamental right of all? This was (and will be again) the bright line between America and the Soviet Union, between America and Nazi Germany, between America and Castro's Cuba, and for that matter, between America and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Does Jeff Sessions like dictatorships, or is he just slavishly following the Cheney/Bush party line?
Sessions' vote is beyond shameful. This man should not be a Senator from Alabama.
