without permission!!
“And um, WHAT UNLAWFUL CONDUCT? Refusing to comply with an order from the fashion police?”
P.S. Could Kaine be any more boring?
P.P.S. Pelosi, on the other hand, continues to kick ass.
Filibuster Alito
Alito is a right-wing ideologue, and we all know it. No matter how much he tries to hide, his preferences are clear: an imperial presidency, no right to privacy, no rights for workers or the poor.
At least some Dems are trying to stop him. And the time to be counted is now.
See firedoglake and dailyKos for things you can do to help. This is a historic battle. Go do your part.
The incomparable Molly Ivins
She’s not backing Hillary. And says so, in the best, strongest, clearest language anyone has used so far. I love Molly, and I agree with her.
I’d like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president.
Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges….
What kind of courage does it take, for mercy’s sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush’s tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.
The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do “whatever it takes” to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF? …
Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can’t get up and fight, we’ll find someone who can.
Go read the whole thing. It will set you on fire.
“A republic, madam, if you can keep it”
Benjamin Franklin is 300 today
On Alito’s confirmation
I sent this letter to Senator Salazar of Colorado. If the possible confirmation of Alito alarms you as it does me, please write your own Senator if you feel he or she is persuadable.
I know you are getting a lot of pressure to vote in favor of Alito’s confirmation. I wanted to let you know that this constituent, at least, is deeply opposed to Alito’s confirmation, and I urge you to vote against him.
As a woman, I fear the negative impact he will have on women’s personal privacy and women’s rights, not only in the areas of contraception and abortion, but in terms of redressing past inequities in jobs and pay. This concern applies to minorities as well. Both in his personal life and in his role as a judge, Alito has consistently sided with white men and other people of wealth and power, and I think white men and rich people already have enough advocates in our government and on the court.
I am deeply concerned as well that he supports this concept of an Imperial Presidency (called the unitary Presidency, as shown in Alito’s advocacy for Presidential signing statements). Already the Bush administration is working hard to subvert the system of checks and balances that make our Constitution unique and which are so important to our liberty. Our government of laws, not men, will only be further undermined if Alito is confirmed. I am certain of it.
This man admires deeply such conservative types as Ronald Reagan and Robert Bork. On this holiday commemorating the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr., let me remind you that Reagan kicked off his Presidential campaign by going to Philadelphia Mississippi, site of the murders of civil rights workers, and stating his support for “states’ rights”, Republican code for racial separation and white supremacy. It’s no coincidence that Alito belonged to a college group that opposed allowing women and minorities into Princeton, and his protestations that he knew nothing of what that group was about ring hollow.
Please consider how far to the conservative right our government has already slid, and how much further still Alito will help move it if he spends 30 or 40 years as a Supreme Court judge. And then please vote to oppose his nomination.
Thanks for listening
hmmm….
Do I have anything to write about? I guess the New Year will tell.
In Memorium
In My Life
There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
So forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one who compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Lennon/McCartney
Catching up
I’ve been getting hit with trackback spam by the truckload, almost every day. So I’ve gone through every post on the site and turned off trackbacks permanently. In the process of dealing with the spam, I lost all my real trackbacks, but there’s nothing to be done about that. I think I’ve got all posts set to reject pings, so maybe I’ll have time to actually blog again now.
