Senate @ MindSay 
congress
He hasn't even been taken out of office. Which does mean he still has the power to assign someone to Obama's seat.
So how could they turn away his choice knowing all of that? He's still in power. It has been suggested that he step down and that he is off everyone's Christmas card list. But he has not been removed from his position.
So if they don't want to accept the decisions he makes, maybe it's time to step up the investigation and get his sorry ass out of that position, no? Because if you don't... he still has that power.
And I hope Mr. Burris goes ahead with any plans he had to go after them with lawyers.
This could get fun.
To state that today is critical would be a gross understatement;
the Internet is buzzing about the upcoming passage of the
Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007,
yet through all of the talk and articles, we still haven't joined-in with
enough numbers to stop this Bill dead in its tracks -
If we don't?
Free Speech in American could effectively become a memory,
and those who have constantly fought for our freedoms will likely be muzzled
and may be hauled-off to internment camps, which we now know exist and
when S 1959 is passed into law, it's inevitable that they will soon be used.
LINK Yes, they are real, and were built by FEMA and KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary.
Do your own Internet search and you will find pictures and documentation of these camps,
yet the Mainstream New Media hasn't uttered a word to the public about these camps,
which demonstrates the MSM has been totally compromised as a reliable news source.
Positive Universe Abstracts has an entire page devoted to the plethora of Op-Eds
and articles on this subject you can find at this LINK.
Two more informative and frightening articles were published last night or this morning,
and both offer the reality we may face if this Bill, the worst assault on the Constitution
in this nations history, is allowed to pass:
Senate Bill 1959 to Criminalize Patriotism
Urgent call to Action: Facts about S1959, Action Alerts
There is factual evidence supplied in all of the above articles,
but the piece which is missing is how to stop this bill dead in its tracks,
and although I commend all on taking this odious Bill to task -
the time for action is now, before the Bill is passed and then,
nothing will save this nation from tyranny.
We must join-in in solidarity to halt this egregious assault on
our Constitutional rights, and several sites are openly
re-printing how we can do it.
Please read How To Make A Grassroots Movement Successful and then
take matters into your own hands and urge others to do the same.
There is a solution, but simply writing about the problem won't make it go away,
and only your participation will - so please, don't think that it couldn't happen
to us as the Jews did in Germany, even as they were in the railroad cars
on their voyage to death and imprisonment.
We may face similar fates ourselves if we don't band-together and speak-out
in unison and there is very little time left. The Bill is being fast-tracked,
so its passage could occur at any time.
Help to save yourselves and the beloved country we grew-up in,
and make a statement, not tomorrow or the day after, but today,
and each and every day thereafter until this Bill is declared dead.
To do otherwise is to allow you to find yourselves in one of those camps
in the not too distant future, and only by speaking-out today will we be able
to circumvent the horror of tomorrow if this Bill is allowed to pass.
William Cormier
FOOTNOTE: To help make this phone and email protest to be effective,
it is imperative to re-post this message on every Progressive/Liberal Blog in America,
and to make it a subject on all of those Discussion forums so the bulk of those who find
their news on the Internet are aware of this message.
Google, thankfully, shows this article on their search engines.
Yahoo, MSM, and even Technorati will not show any results when you search for this article.
It shows the government is concerned, and every effort is being made to kill this story,
yet it still remains popular and I've noted the colleges in particular are reading this story,
as well as thousands of others all over the United States.
Once again, my hat is off to Google for remaining true to their base
and have evidently decided to side with the people rather than the government.
There are two very long comments on DIGG that talk in depth
of the need to defeat this Bill, and another offers a sample letter to send to Congress -
I deeply appreciate their help and they are reprinted below for your perusal;
don't, however, forget to burn-up those phone lines in Washington.
It's critical that our Senate understand that the people have "had enough"
- and it's time for change!
~~~~~~~~~
For those who say they have read this act, and that it doesn’t affect us,
take a look at their definitions listed at the top of the act:
The term `homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use,
of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating
primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate
or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States,
or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
The term `ideologically based violence’ means the use, planned use,
or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to
promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs.
Do you see the words “force OR violence?”.
What is it that we try to accomplish when forming,
or participating in a grassroots movement,
a protest, an email, phone, or letter campaign?
We are trying to force a change in government action, ideology,
or trying to force a change in thought of every day citizens
who have the power to locally affect legislation being passed
in their state, or local communities.
Congress found “The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and
ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.”
Meaning those threats of force OR violence pose a threat to Homeland Security.
Congress found “The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization,
ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States
by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda
to United States citizens.”
Meaning that restrictions will most certainly be imposed on the internet to immediately
cease traffic to and from known sites commencing with “terrorist” ideologies.
After that, and sites with a lot of traffic adhering to their definitions of violent radicalization,
homegrown terrorism, or ideological based terrorism
(by the ever changing definition of Homeland Security),
will not only be monitored, but the users who post many comments hoping to inspire,
motivate, and drive people to action will also be individually monitored, possibly
banned from these sites, or otherwise restricted.
These restrictions will likely be imposed in other ways of life as well.
Look at the no fly lists, police databases, CCTV cameras, etc.
Congress found: “Any measure taken to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism,
and ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism in the United States should
not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens
or lawful permanent residents.”
Unless of course, they amend the constitution to allow it. Or, they pass an act,
such as this very act, or the patriot act, or the protect america act, that allows
executive privilege in a vaguely defined “time of emergency”, to disregard those rights
in order to protect the homeland.
Congress found: “Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia
have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit
from lessons learned by those nations.”
CCTV cameras, Internet monitoring and censorship, media consolidation under government decree,
face tracking, country/continent unification, excessive tasering, the development of surveillance material
to be used in public places, and in gatherings of protest/dissent
(small hovering microphones and cameras, the development of hovering taser devices).
I can go on and on, and if need be I will.
If you honestly think that this doesn’t affect us,
that our government couldn’t possibly commit illegal acts of censorship,
silencing, monitoring, and installing fear among their own citizens,
you couldn’t possibly be more wrong.
The government has done all of these things before,
and we didn’t know about it until many years later
when these acts were deemed irrelevant enough to be “declassified”.
We have several covert federal agencies operating with our police system,
our court system, the internet, phone companies, and will soon be within
our medical records as well (RFID chips anyone?).
This is something that WILL affect us.
This is something that we have to take care of.
WE MUST RETALIATE.
Flood the offices of your congressional leaders with phone calls.
Write a letter to them on your computer, save it, and print and send dozens of copies.
It’ll cost you what, five dollars in stamps?
Contact your media again and again and again.
Discuss it with your family and friends.
The time for the passing of this legislation is near.
We must act now. We have to act now.
We cannot let apathy get the best of us.
We cannot let fatalism or defeatism get the best of us.
You are not alone, you are among many.
You will make a difference, because your voice will be among thousands.
If we don’t protect ourselves, our children, and our neighbors,
what left will we have to life for?
How will we be able to organize and fight for further infringements
and atrocities if our rights to organize and dissent are slowly withering away?
Here is a letter typed out. . Feel free to use it or draw upon it.
Send it to anyone you like, the more the merrier.
We need to get this, or anything else, out to as many people as possible.
Make sure you include the name(s) of your Senator(s), as well as your name at the bottom
(as, correct me if I’m wrong, but a lot of times, the staff will throw out letters that are not from
the constituency as that particular senator). I’m going to send these out to my senators today,
after I get more stamps. Please do the same.
Dear Senator
It has come to my attention, that The U.S. House of Representatives has recently passed HR 1955 titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This is now up for review in the Senate Judiciary committee, listed as S.1959.
Per the language used in the Act itself, S.1959 defines Homegrown Terrorism as: “the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
“The term `ideologically based violence’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs.”
Congress found: “The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.”
Congress also found: “The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.”
Congress also noted: “Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit from lessons learned by those nations.”
These findings and definition are of grave concern to us U.S. citizens. The countries listed as having experience and influence of terrorism and terrorism prevention, have consolidated their media under government decree (Canada), leaving almost no room for open, unbiased, investigative journalism that would inform the citizens of the goings on the their countries that should bring concern. The United Kingdom, as well as the United States have begun installing CCTV cameras in public places that will track and monitor, individual faces of persons engaging in loosely defined “suspicious activity”. There have been news reports of business in the process of implementing hovering surveillance devices that can monitor visual and audio activity of suspects, as well as surveillance devices that can assist police and government organizations in deterring aggressive resistance of arrest or detainment, by issuing small electric shocks similar to that of the controversial taser device.
This act also allows for a central organization to be created to monitor, detect, and report on suspicious “homegrown terrorist activity within the United States”. The definition of such activity is vague, leaving room for the possibility of anyone seriously advocating social change, restoration of the constitution, and advocating the organization of protests to “coerce the United States government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof”.
This Act is undermining, and threatening, the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens to organize in dissent of the Patriot Act, NSA surveillance, telecom immunity, social injustice, the War on Terror, or any other program that the citizenry feels is in violation of their inalienable rights as U.S. citizens.
We have had enough. Your constituency, the people you represent, are asking that you vote no when this Act comes up for review.
Here is the website containing the Act (House Resolution HR1955, also S. 1959) in full detail: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill= …
All U.S. citizens who are doing nothing but voicing their opinions against a President and Vice President who have expanded their executive powers, bypassed our congressional check and balance, and has undermined our U.S. Judiciary System, are now at risk, by this new act, of being labeled and prosecuted as a terrorist. Vote NO on S.1959.
Thank you,
Here is a link to all of the Senators,
and their contact information
(name, address, phone number):
We witnessed Alberto Gonzales validate American use of torture and repudiate the Geneva Convention; we funded – the Congress of the United States funded – illegal detention centers and violated the United States Constitution granting of Constitutional Rights to any and all who are under our jurisdiction.
In case you do not get it – someone we are holding in prison cells, here or abroad, is, like any Federal prisoner, under our jurisdiction. All those we have held without trial have had their Constitutional Rights denied – the President and Congress have been, and are, in clear violation of the Constitution. They have subverted YOUR Rights as much as they have denied the rights of those being held.
When George W Bush authorized and defended the torture of others, he violated his oath of office – when members of Congress failed to impeach, they too violated their oaths of office.
Now we have political appointee games being conducted – the rules are clear: challenge someone on their opinion on legality, declare the action “obviously” illegal ... but shun responsibility for enforcing the law.
The best answer to the Water-boarding question, as posed to Michael Mukasey, was Mukasey’s response that he didn’t know if it was illegal. Obviously, if it were illegal under our laws, and also a violation of the geneva Convention – hence international law – the authorization and facilitating of the practice would be a “High Crime or Misdemeanor“ in the Constitutional context mandating impeachment.
Congress, by refusing to impeach, has declared water-boarding legal under the United States Laws and Constitution.
If his refusal to assert water-boarding illegal is the worst, the only, thing Congress can find against Michael B. Mukasey – if Mukasey’s acceptance of that which Congress holds to be legal is a problem, I would suggest we have a very real problem.
The problem at hand is the continued existence of the united states as a nation of laws. Congress has said that it should not be honored – that the thing which it accepts should not be accepted by those who wish to be employed by the government.
The media reports: “The biggest problem for Mr. Mukasey remains his refusal to take a clear legal position on the interrogation technique.”
The biggest problem for everyone else is that Congress has failed to enforce its political position on interrogation techniques which none in Congress would consider – if applied to them personally – anything less than outright torture.
The American Congress has failed to meet its responsibilities. George W has won; the evangelical movement has won, the American ideal has been crushed, the basis of moral responsibility has been destroyed and obliterated – America is passing into the dusty pages of mythology and legend. American ideals, the American dream, is going the way of King Arthur’s Round Table and Camelot.
Depressing?
Yes it is. Very Depressing! More so because we are living under the rule of law which has ceased to exist. We have no place to go, nothing we can do but ride it out and hope that our grandchildren survive the horrors which must befall us in the next decade or two.
Remember! Remember this is a president who said he didn’t care about what history thought – and gave as a reason that fact that we would all be dead. He then, with the blessing of Congress, the Courts, and the majority of the people – he then went on to do everything he could to kill us physically and economically
Gee daddy George .. Is there Global Warming? No of course not! Oh, ignore the opening of that Northwest passage, and ignore the exposure of tree stumps which, for the last seven millennia, were encased under tens to hundreds of meters of ice.
Let it be known to one and all, with the deliberate and thoughtful assistance of Congress: The Mighty Oz has spoken! – don’t look behind the curtain.
Last week I shared with you my idea of requiring the U.S. Postal Service to place recycling bins in their facilities for the depositing of unwanted sales papers and other junk mail. I also shared that of all the elected officials I had contacted concerning this, the only one to respond was Sen. Elizabeth Dole. I stated that I hadn’t expected much from her or Sen. Richard Burr, meaning that the Republican Party isn’t synonymous with environmentalism. I now believe that I spoke too soon as far as Sen. Burr is concerned.
I suppose I should have been more optimistic about Burr. After all, he had already served the people of North Carolina for ten years in the U.S. House while Sen. Dole took the Hillary Clinton carpetbagger route to the Senate (yes, I know she was born in North Carolina, but nearly 40 years in Washington, D.C. and Kansas, a North Carolinian do not make).
Dole’s letter to me began, “Thank you so much for taking time to write to me with your concerns. Receiving your ideas and concerns is so important in order for me to represent you, and our state, to the best of my ability in the United States Senate.”
Okay. So far, so good.
She continued, “The issue you describe is indeed important and deserves review. I very much appreciate you sharing your opinions and thoughts with me regarding this matter. Please be assured that I will keep your insights in mind should pertinent legislation be considered in the Senate.”
Now I’m no expert on Senate procedure, but as a senator, couldn’t she introduce the pertinent legislation herself?
She concluded, “Thank you again for taking the time to share your ideas and concerns. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
Further assistance? She wasn’t of any assistance! The only thing we established is that she’s thankful I wasted my time on her.
I received Sen. Burr’s reply over the weekend. While he did take three months to get back to me, his letter was a lot more positive.
“Thank you for contacting me about requiring recycling bins in the Post Office. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue.”
I like that he specified the issue, which indicates that he actually read my letter and took the time to respond instead of signing off on a form letter.
He continued, “I certainly understand how frustrating it can be to open a mail box only to find it packed with advertisements and other junk mail. I also recognize the amount of waste associated with this issue. Your solution to the problem makes a whole lot of sense. In fact, I have asked my staff to inquire with the Postal Service to see if it has any plans to provide recycling bins in local branches.”
Isn’t that a whole lot better response than that drivel I received from Sen. Dole? Okay, so it’s doubtful Sen. Burr is another Al Gore when it comes to environmental issues (that’s not necessarily a bad thing), and his response in no way guarantees a solution to the problem, but at least he recognizes there is a problem and is willing to try and do something about it...unlike his senior colleague.
I apologize to my readers, and to Sen. Burr, for jumping to the wrong conclusion and disparaging his constituent service without his having a chance to respond to me. Hopefully with his help, something good might yet come from the nightmare of junk mail.
© 2007 by J.D. Lewis
Never mind Rudy Huxtable. Forget that silly frog. Being green is easy!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Green Peace terrorist out to blow up whaling ships; I’m as worried about global warming as my father and grandfather were about global cooling in the ’70’s and ’40’s; and the earth is not my mother...but it is my home. I think it is our duty to be good stewards of the earth, and there are some simple things we can do that require little time, effort, or expense, and are good for the environment at the same time.
We use energy efficient light bulbs in our house. They’re rather expensive—at least by unemployed student standards—but they save us money on our utility bills and last longer than incandescent bulbs.
Perhaps the easiest thing we can do for the environment, as pointed out in Tuesday’s Southerner, is recycling. I became interested in this when I learned of those monthly fees on our utility bills whether we use our curbside recycling bins or not. The wife and I didn’t even have a bin, so I called and had one delivered. It’s a paltry amount, but if we’re being charged at all, it’s stupid not to use it.
How many plastic drink bottles and steel food cans does your household go through in a week? We eat three meals a day and have something to drink with each one. It adds up. Why send all that perfectly good refuse to the landfill when it can be used again?
We recycle our plastic grocery bags. We use some of them again for lunch bags and trashcan liners, and the rest we take to the recycling barrel outside Food Lion. Perhaps I should check to make sure they really are recycling those bags. When I worked at Harris Supermarket, we had a barrel that the store manager would have someone go empty into the dumpster when it was full.
If you’re reading this, you have a newspaper to recycle. My bin contains almost as many newspapers as it does bottles. Cardboard can be recycled, as well as the reams of junk mail we all hate.
At least once a week, our mailboxes are stuffed with the same coupons, circulars, and insurance ads that are stuck in our newspapers. Those of us with P.O. boxes get triple the aggravation. Throw in the daily credit card offers, and that’s a whole lot of trees dying needlessly.
Each time I check my box, I see the trashcans in the post office overflowing with junk mail, so I came up with a simple solution: requiring the U.S. Postal Service to provide recycling bins in their facilities.
I wrote to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, and Postmaster General John Potter, as well as Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), who chair their respective chambers’ subcommittees dealing with the USPS. I shared my idea with each and pointed out how this would be a good opportunity for the federal and local governments to work together since most municipalities have some sort of recycling program already.
Three months later, I have only received a response—if you could call it that—from Dole. She never once mentioned my issue, but did thank me three times for sharing my concerns. I didn’t expect much from her or Burr, though any acknowledgement is better than none.
I’m really disappointed in the three Democrats, especially Butterfield. My own representative—the first line of defense, so to speak—should have the gumption to respond in a timely manner. I thought any green issue drew Democrats like an outhouse draws flies.
I voted for Dole, Burr, and Butterfield, and they can count on my remembering their shoddy constituent service when they come up for reelection. But, even without the help of the government, I can still have an impact on the environment in my own small way.
Go thou and do likewise.
© 2007 by J.D. Lewis
Showing 1 - 5. [ Next ]
