Diatribune - U.S. Constitution - Comments

Dave Sirota on "turd" partie

epppie — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:03:32 -0600

Dave Sirota on "turd" partie whackos:

"In a year of travel to report for my new book, The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington, I found those who are fighting back: shareholders running resolutions against corporate boards, third parties shattering the two-party duopoly, legislators kicking down lobbyists in state capitals, bloggers orchestrating primary challenges to entrenched lawmakers, ...What connects these disparate uprisings is both the sense that America is out of control, and an anger at the government for creating the crises we now face.

In Helena, Montana, I watched Kirk Hammerquist testify before the state legislature in opposition to a tax measure designed to give more breaks to wealthy, out-of-state property owners. Hammerquist owns a construction company in Kalispell, and has got the whole cowboy look going—jeans, boots, and a mustache.

“I was driving down last night on an ice skating rink,” he says, recounting his journey through the snowstorm that just hit. “And I said, ‘why the heck am I doing this?’

“This state is really becoming a playground of the wealthy—we know it, we can’t deny it,” he says. “And don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against wealthy people—I’m trying my hardest to be one. … But to sit there and work on a three- to five-million-dollar home for an owner that is going to be there for a couple of months in the summer … and to think the guy that’s working with me [putting] all this pride and sweat into that house is going to get less [of a tax refund] than that person who is going to come play here for a few months—I tell ya, it made me drive all night. I speak for a lot of people, the guys that work with their hands. I had to come down and represent them.”

This is a populist uprising—a “politics that champions issues that have a broad base of popular support but receive short shrift from the political elite… It explains why today’s uprising defies the clichéd red and blue states that flash across our television screens every night.”
"
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2829

Voices Unheard, by Anna

Well, I don't know what I'm

epppie — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:28:27 -0600

Well, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, as I used the imbed text from youtube and I know I got the whole thing. But the video is at the URL and it offers some good comments by Nader. I think this connection between Paul and Nader is something they need to find a way to build on.

For the last 7 years, the

sandy on signal — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:52:18 -0700

For the last 7 years, the Bush Brownshirts have been trying to crush dissent. Sadly because of 9-11, there has been little challenge to it by Congress. Remember when Bush said "you are either with us or with the terrorists"? That remark was made just a few days after 9-11. When the world felt sympathy towards us, Bushco was madly working toward tyranny.

In the early part of 2004, things were so oppressive here in the South by Repubs, I knew I had to take a stand on politics. My husband received an "invitation" to then CEO Nardelli's home in May of 2004. The event was a Bush Pioneer fundraiser and W would be there. At that time, Home Despot was his largest customer. HD sent out invitations to all the vendors soliciting donations for Nardelli's fundraiser.

My husband rsvp'd and said he would not be attending. A few days before the event, Nardelli's executive secretary, called him to ask whether he would be coming, again, he said no. She then asked about a check. He told her no since he was not attending. Thirty minutes later, the Executive Vice President of Operations called my husband and asked if he was going to the fundraiser. The Operations Veep railed on about how important it was to defeat the Democrats and for the GOP & Bushco to win. My husband stood firm, shaken a bit by their arm twisting tactics.

We knew then we had to take a stand and get more Dems in the South to take one with us. We threw a house party for Kerry and raised $4500 from my Dem neighbors and friends. It pales compared to the $3 million Nardelli raised for Bush that night in May. The money was not our goal. Our goal was to get Democrats to be together. When I began sending out invitations, I ordered only 12 for the Dems I knew. Word spread like wildfire and I had to re-order invitations 2 more times. Over 100 showed up to express support and be with like minded friends. We had so many Kerry signs up in yards that many now talk of Signal as a liberal area now.

If Signal Mtn. can change, then Congress ought to be able to do it too.

Thanks for your comment. You

Jacob Freeze — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:09:23 -0600

Thanks for your comment.

You can find one story about warrantless wiretapping before 9/11 here.

“No one is doing that. The

Catzoned — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 21:48:50 -0600

“No one is doing that. The question really is whether Congress should toss out chunks of the Constitution because Mr. Bush finds them inconvenient and some Democrats are afraid to look soft on terrorism”.

“This provision is not primarily about protecting patriotic businessmen, as Mr. Bush claims. It's about ensuring that Mr. Bush and his aides never have to go to court to explain how many laws they've broken”.

Those quotes from the article say a lot. I had been under the impression that Congress hasn’t been able to do much because they really aren’t really a majority of them until there are enough Democratic representatives to overturn the Presidents veto. I had believed that there simple wasn’t enough of them. Apparently I have been wrong. If they are not willing to uphold the Constitutional laws, these guys are just not right for the job.

For a long time now President Bush has been trying to circumvent the Fourth Amendment and even redraw the line in the sand about free speech. It’s not so free when Big Brother is reading and listening in on communications. I wish I could remember where I read that this has been going on since February 27, 2001, which was quite some time before 9/11 attacks. Actually I believe it was on this blog that I encountered it. No wonder why President Bush needs to push protection of his illegal actions retroactively!

Siphoning domestic communications is entrapment and illegal in the eyes of the law regardless of what Constitutional Amendments it violates. President Bush violates his oath to uphold the Constitution and that, in my opinion, is grounds for impeachment. And, impeachment of Bush and Cheney is something that many of us want to see happen. The Democrats have not pursed the interest of the American citizens who voted for them to do just that, for starters.

So here we are – more dysfunctional members of Congress instead of upstanding leaders to represent our interests. I still believe that we do need an adequate number of Democrats in Congress to override a Presidential veto in case we do end up with another Republican in the White House. However, we need men and women of integrity who will actually represent the interests of the citizenry. Non-binding resolutions are a waste of time and serve no real purpose. But that’s another blog topic…..

Start the revolution

kerry — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:20:44 -0600

Start the revolution

This is a guy who claims

epppie — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:02:46 -0600

This is a guy who claims that he can't understand why the Iraqis aren't grateful to him. So if the Iraqis should be grateful, I guess we should be too.

I hope that Bush's statement about Gonzales wakes up some people in Amerika. Come on people, you saw Gonzales lie to the Congress repeatedly. You heard about his flagrantly illegal attempt to bypass the acting AG by going to a sick and sedated man's hospital room. Now you've seen Bush defend that same man. What does that tell you about Bush?

It's time to impeach Rice, Cheney and Bush.

This president does not

kerry — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:21:44 -0600

This president does not believe in the Constitution. He believes in the privileged class. He thinks he is doing us a favor by being our president and doesn't understand why we are not grateful for his sacrifice.

I agree with you eppie. I

kerry — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:19:45 -0600

I agree with you eppie. I don't believe things will ever get better with this administration. There is always another fascist lined up to replace the one that left.

Great post but call me

Catzoned — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:07:04 -0600

Great post but call me cynical as well. President Bush has been trying to change the line in the sand between what is free speech and what is civil disobedience. I say keep fighting the Bush administration because we will win eventually. Let freedom ring!

Pardon my cynicism, but we

epppie — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:34:35 -0600

Pardon my cynicism, but we always seem to go from bad to worse in this administration (unless one really thinks that Gates, the ultimate yes man, is better than Rumsfeld).

Here's one not drinking the

epppie — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:12:14 -0600

Here's one not drinking the establishment Dem Kool-aid!

Just like Bush always wants just another six months for his latest strategy not even to work, just to show some bare signs of working, as interpreted by Bush himself. the Dems are always telling us that the "next time" they'll really show Mr. Decider.

... like wet noodles, they

Mentarch — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:47:30 -0600

... like wet noodles, they will (sigh)

Not to worry - the Dems will

epppie — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:51:23 -0600

Not to worry - the Dems will stop Bush like a stone wall on his next power grab...

Totally. The real crime hear

kerry — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:30:16 -0600

Totally. The real crime hear though is the passivity of the American people in the face of such gross injustice.