Hold Your Horses

And Your Nose

The rancid back and forth in the contentious health care debate is giving me a head-ache. Bishops fighting Nuns, bloggers fighting bloggers, catholic editorialists fighting catholic dictatorialists, Jesuits trying hard not to fight Dominicans, and disinformation and misinformation flying faster than winter geese to Miami.

Yes, folks, there ARE Amendments to the Senate Bill. The same Senate bill is not the document the House is voting on. Have you read them?

Statements issue and judgment is passed before the final bill is on the table.
Why is there, for example, not a link on any rabid denouncer's site to the actual text of the bill or what is being proposed as an amendment. Surely, they are techie savvy enough to know how to do this.

Some things are a matter of 'statutory interpretation' others a matter of 'statutory construction.' Some are black and white clear as the nose on your face.

One thing that we all should agree on is that (a) the system is broken now and threatens to bankrupt too many people and cripples parts of the economy, and (b) we need to fix it, not obstruct progress.

Let's play nice, boys and girls. People's lives may depend on it- and you don't want to be the Anti-Lazarus of our economy.

Nun Sense

They Read.

They say there is no abortion funding in the bill.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-healthcare-nuns18-2010mar18,0,7687394.story

The most disturbing alarming aspect of the discussion has been the contemptuous
disrespect shown these women- women who have sacrificed unbelievably to serve God-
giving up having their own children and families, forsaking all luxuries and living in poverty-
no plastic surgeries, no bad hair dyes, no liposuctions, no men to hold them at night or tell them they look pretty or smell good or thank them for making them dinner every night. These women who deserve such respect and honor are being excoriated for their ability to read.

And the heading from that American Papist punk's blog entry regarding the Nun defection reads "BARF...." with photographs of Nuns. Disgraceful.

Mandatory Reading

Dr. Amen. Hallelujiah.

For Every Parent in America.

Big Kudos to Michelle O. for taking on this public health crisis -childhood obesity.
One in Three (1 in 3) kids are doomed to be Type II diabetics if the trend in childhood obesity is not reversed.
Obesity is largely if not exclusively a matter of diet and exercise, perhaps some environmental stressors and finances- because it costs more money to eat right than the cheaper garbage.
Fundamentally, it is also a question of health education. The first place to start should be this book which is a must read for all parents.
http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594865280

This GW Doctor discusses how important it is to avoid animal fats that block the ability of insulin to process sugars/glucose into energy. You can reverse diabetis by getting rid of all animal fat in a diet with other behavioral modifications in many if not all cases, regardless of how far gone the disease is. This book contains helpful eating hints and guidelines.
Another Doctor getting a lot of play for his beliefs is Doctor Amen. Seriously, that is his name. Dr. Daniel Amen. Google him. His concept: Healthy Brain, Healthy Body. He has books, DVDs, CDs and even a healthy cookbook his wife put together. Raw Genius this guy. http://www.amenclinics.com/meet-dr-amen/

Many thanks to PBS, WETN for airing the programs of these fine doctors- another reason to support your local public television station. (no one paid me to say that but wouldn't I be a great fundraiser for them!) http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Barnards-Program-Reversing-Diabetes/dp/1594865280#reader_1594865280

The Perfect

Is Not the Enemy of the Good.

But the Bad is the Enemy of the Perfect.



Is the health care bill, as Lynn Woolsey suggests a good first step, or something that makes life scarier for the 30 million broke out of work folks without coverage.

http://www.aolnews.com/healthcare/article/house-democrats-on-track-for-vote-on-940-billion-health-care-bill/19404776

Down to the Wire

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/health/policy/18health.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1

The Question only Lawrence O'Donnell

and the Republicans are asking.

What are the price controls in the Health Care legislation.
Forgive me, but I have to play the 'where are the Emperor's clothes' game - and it has nothing to do with abortion. Lets assume, arguendo the bill does contain sufficient protections against federal funding of abortions. That's not the only issue -there is another one not getting fair air play.

If you guarantee me that there are no pre-existing coverage denials what is the price of that and who bears it. You can get a policy (not a public option one) but it will cost you an arm and a leg (forgive the pun). We won't deny you for having diabetis, we will just charge you five times as much per month for your premium. If you have leukemia now, we won't cut off your coverage mid-treatment, we will just take your house from you in the form of premium jack ups.

And then, is there a mandatory policy purchase mandate. In other words, must everyone buy a policy whether they have one or not now, and at what price? What are the price controls? Is there is a fine for not buying one like the lame car insurance analogy offered earlier? The thirty million (30 Mil) unemployed folks who lost their homes to foreclosure who don't have jobs and had their cars repoed, are they going to be fined for not buying an exhorbitant insurance policy?

These are the questions that really irk folks and have not been sufficiently addressed to the public. That is why the republicans are uncomfortable in part.

The Bishops may or may not be proxy tools stirring dissent for other reasons under the guise of abortion objections- but the issue is wider from an economic perspective. If this is one sixth of the economy, are you just playing a shell game with the profits or really saving for the consumer.

You don't want to pass a Bill that loses you your seat, and the Democratic majority if it doesn't
do the trick and makes life worse, do you?

The China Syndrome

And How To Cure It Before 2012.

Today at the New America Foundation Steve Clemons, that Washington Blog guy announced finally "I am not a Democrat" to slay any doubts. Notwithstanding, he is a rather jovial hospitable moderator and his Forum today on the 'New American Contract' held a few innovative ideas and more of the same refrain on China beating our pants off competitively, ripping us off raw and manipulating their currency. One solution-artificially suppress the dollar, suggested one panelist. I don't like that because it means a weaker dollar is going to make it more expensive for Americans like me to travel in Europe.
Read Stiglitz again I am reminded. I don't get all how suppressing the dollar artificially is going to save us- and require explanation from George Soros.
Many thanks to Senator Dornan for clarifying the issues boldly regarding what a serious crisis we are really in.

The chant of "we can't beat cheaters" resonated, which had me wondering- why is it that the WIPO- World Intellectual Property Org. is so toothless that China keeps on dumping cloned and pirated goods on our markets and we are powerless to stop it. Currency manipulation solutions only skim the surface of the real issues- and ignore the fact that their prices are just dirt cheap because they don't have to pay the designer to invent the stuff originally, they can just knock it off and pass it off and they pay their workers in rice (nearly).
Why is there no OMBUDSMAN BRIDGE or Liason Office between WIPO and WTO by treaty or convention? Why can't there be tariff impositions imposed as penalties for WIPO infringement judgments? Why can't these august bodies of aristocratic civil servants sitting in Geneva walk down the Lake walk there and have regular meetings wherein the trade policies of WTO are mutually enforced by enforcement of judgments of WIPO? There ought to be some coordination I surmised- and how would that start to happen? You get a WIPO judgment, your country gets hit with a ten percent tariff increase- you cause your whole country to have to pay.

If we are getting walloped by trade deficits, and raped raw by piracy and intellectual property theft why are we not imposing tariffs that assist the trade deficits for violations of the intellectual property laws? Seems pretty simple to me but what do I know?

Here is what I propose happen in short order. Perhaps we need another Committee. OH NO, not another Committee. At the Executive level, appoint, (please don't call it a Czar or people will start calling it communist) - a group of trade policy, fiscal policy, and monetary policy experts WITH Intellectual Property powerhouse brainpower to link these issues and strategize our best interests to protect our economy- translation- protect our JOBS, people. When you protect JOBS, you protect the livelihoods of people aspiring to be in the middle class, you preserve their buying power and cyclically it all moves like a well oiled economy as opposed to the gum in the gears bail-out bonanza we can't keep having without bankrupting the country.

Another idea I liked; any executive whose company got TARP funding has to pay half their bonus back to the US Treasury. Where do you think it came from in the first place? Why subsidize companies that are not 'free market' viable and get no return on it.

The Committee should be comprised of former and/or current ITC commissioners, WIPO high level people, WTO Commissioners, leading economists, etc.

In lay terms, if you cheat and steal my designs and sell them well below market because you avoided all the labor costs by manufacturing without living standard wages with cheap raw materials and avoided design costs, and we catch you and get a judgment against you at WIPO, this will translate into sanctions at the WTO in the form of increased Tariffs for your country's goods to compensate for you artificially reducing prices and flooding our markets. Your whole country will suffer, which should put significant peer pressure on you by your fellow countrymen who will be really mad at you that you were caught.

That's just one idea, hairbrained or not. What we need is a visible Administration level expert policy group that addresses the deep recession (worse since the Depression of the 30s with real unemployment approaching 30 Million) to address issues of exporting jobs overseas for cheap labor, currency manipulation, piracy, loss of the manufacturing base, etc.

Senator Dornan made the salient well taken point that there is no Divine Right for America to
be a leading economic power in the world, and we won't be if we don't start making smart decisions in our interest. We owe our parents and grandparents and the forefathers who built the country better than we are doing by selling ourselves out.

And No, the discretionary Non-Defense funding freeze is Not a smart idea. Dumb idea.

Jesuit Pastor Joins 49,000 Nuns In Supporting Health Care (sort of)

Father Horak, S.J. Urges Parishioners of one of DC's Largest Catholic Parishes to Support Health Care, then says read the Bishop's statement.

Father Horak, prior to being ordained was an attorney. He reads the fine print. He joins the NETWORK, a group of many religious orders of women numbering close to 50,000 (more or less) in supporting the Health Care bill. http://www.networklobby.org/press/3-14-10HealthcareReform.htm
Father Horak sent the following email to the Parish listserv:


Some days ago, many parishioners received an e-mail urging them to support the Senate’s health care reform bill. Several of you have since objected that the parish should not be encouraging parishioners to support something that the United States Bishops oppose.
First, as pastor, I take responsibility for everything that is done in the name of the parish, including the e-mail to which some of you have objected.
Second, in hindsight, sending the e-mail was an error in judgment on my part, and I apologize to parishioners. Without trying to justify my decision to send the e-mail, I simply explain that the US Bishops published a final, definitive statement opposing the Senate bill on March 15, after I authorized the e-mail. I would not have authorized the e-mailing if that statement had been available to me before.
To be sure, I am well aware that, although the bishops have long stated that adequate health care is a fundamental right of all persons, the bishops have repeatedly and clearly expressed reservations about the Senate bill and have been urging amendments that would, among other things, offer more explicit protection for the unborn. Nevertheless, what seemed significant to me as I considered whether to authorize the e-mail was that debate on the various proposals has come to an end and a vote is imminent. The choice is no health care reform or the Senate’s health care reform bill. In the absence of a clear statement by the bishops at this critical point in the process, I encouraged parishioners to support the Senate bill.
That good people may disagree with the bishops is irrelevant to me in my position as a pastor of a Roman Catholic parish. My first responsibility is to communicate the Church’s teaching as the bishops understand it and state it. I am confident that you understand the US bishops’ opposition to the Senate health care reform bill even in the present circumstances, and I trust that you will give their teaching due consideration as you form your own conscience in this matter.
For the bishops’ complete statement on this matter, go to their website at www.usccb.org and click on the article, “President of US Bishops says…:
Fr. Mark Horak, S.J.
Pastor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031702440.html

BREAKING NEWS.....

Congressman who spent 6 years studying for the Priesthood says Abortion Funding Not in the Health Care legislation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/health/policy/18health.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1

Dennis Kucinich now will vote for the bill. "Health Care is a Civil Right" says Kucinich.

More on Love

In A Time Of Cholera (and other sickness in the city).

http://www.aolnews.com/story/priests-with-love-lives-speak-out/955529?cid=13

HOPE

Has a Face

In El Salvador (which means 'The Savior' by the way for us gringitos) a remarkable effort is being undertaken with a local community of what we would call ghetto/bario dwelling El Salvadoral refugees (IDP's-internally displaced persons) from the violence of civil war in partnership with members of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, DC and others. This community, who built a village essentially on a garbage dump outside the city of San Salvador, are working with a non-profit called SEWINC (http://www.sewinc.org/) which is a women's sewing co-operative with a mission of "empowering women through small business development." It is a grant program to provide the women with the necessary tools to make and market their wares. When you empower women you lift entire families, and thus entire villages and communities. Communities that repress their women destroy and demean themselves.

Holy Trinity in DC has a sister parish called Maria Madre de los Pobres in which they provide teams of people to assist in various projects and help with funding efforts in this rather poor community. The community now has elementary schooling and after school programs, various small business industries (fair trade coffee, and handicrafts, etc.) and basic life sustaining services.

Here is where you come in.

Hurricane Ida brought torrential rains and flooding that destroyed completely 161 homes of parishioners of Maria Madre de los Pobres. The river water is badly contaminated and thus is the first most menacing source of potential disease spread. The rains are coming again (solidly from June through September more or less).

The 2010 US AID Congressional allocation in the 2010 Supplemental for Afghanistan is around $843 Million. Some of it should go to assisting rebuilding the retaining walls and post-Hurricane Ida reconstruction efforts in El Salvador, particularly near and in La Chacra which is in the lowest lying area of El Salvador and thus most devastated. Residents live in literally moldy cardboard and rusted shacks and there is no excuse for it. It can be easily remedied. The polluted waters are a life threatening health hazard. Some 43 bridges were destroyed. The appropriation could be monitored in conjunction with the El Salvador Minister of Public works (MOP), especially to fortify the banks of the River Acelhaute and to improve the La Chacra drainage infrastructure.

I highly urge that people interested in helping please contact their congresspersons (email me or comment below if you need their number(s) and/or the Parish Associate for Social Justice Ministry at Holy Trinity in Washington, DC Eli at http://www.trinity.org/.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Irish Eyes are Smilin

A Rabbi, a Priest and a Minister walk into a Bar. The Bartender says "Is this some kinda joke!"

A Priest goes into a bar on a Friday night after mass and orders three guiness. He systematically takes a sip out of the first one, then the next one, then the third one and repeats until he drinks them all. The bartender asks him- 'Father, Forgive me, I don't mean to be insolent but why don't you just order and drink one at a time?' The Priest answers "I've got a brother in Derry, and another one in Dublin and I am here in New York. We all used to go out together on Friday nights and I hope they will all join me here in New York one day, so I sip for each of them saying a little prayer for them each time." The bartender says "That's beautiful Father, from now on, every Friday, all your Guiness is on the house."
A few Fridays later, the good Father comes in to the Bar and orders two Guiness. The Bartender says "Father, I don't mean to pry, but has there been some sad tragedy befall one of your brothers in Ireland."
"No" the Priest explains- 'It's LENT! I gave up the drink for lent but me brothers didn't!"

Misappropriating the Name

of God and Country.

Walking down the street today I saw embroidered on a professional young man in a suit's yarmulke "Pink Floyd." This, I confess, stopped me in my tracks. It has me thinking of the song "Stairway to Heaven" but this also had me wondering if it was rabbinically approved attire. Can you imagine the advertising bonanza if people can start advertising on their yarmulkes? What's next "The Pepsi Generation," "Light and Lively Yogurt" or "Kosher and FDA approved Ballpark Franks." Something about "Pink Floyd" on a Yarmulke sort of demeaned for me the meaning of the Yarmulke which to me signals the protection of God over the believing Jew. Pink Floyd- not so much.
Imagine if I put for example in a beautiful oil painting of a crucifixion the face of Elvis in Jesus' place- sacrilege some would shout and I wouldn't take issue with it.

Context is everything. Taking the Lord's name in vain is a big 'no no.' You can say "Jesus Christ thank you" and "God bless you" but if you say "Jaeeeesus Christ! you Fool!" you are liable to Gehenna (that trash heap surrounding Jerusalem.) "Jesus F-ing Christ" is definitely hellworthy stuff.

Impersonating a police officer or an FBI agent is a crime. Impersonating an attorney when you are only a private investigator is a crime. Acting like a lawyer when you are not one is called "the unauthorized practice of law" and can get you in deep trouble. So if you only took two years of law school and have no degree and no bar entered you as a member putting "attorney" on your business card is just fraud. Plain and simple. Calling yourself something you are not is just sleazy and flatly dishonest.

What about an office, not a person? Say I want a commercial competitive advantage so I want to call myself the US National Aeronautics Development Lab when I am really a division of Boeing. That sounds a bit misleading don't you think. Even if they get government defense contracts, it still sounds a bit misleading, don't you think? There is no such entity to my knowledge and for a reason I imagine. Any defense contractor would I am sure like to be able to call themselves the US National whatever- it would signal to the foreign contractors that they were somehow more official than the rest of them and catering favors with them is catering favors with the US Government somehow. That is a no no. It would suggest some sort of foul in the trademark or false advertising area that the FTC prosecutes. It might even run afoul of State Department purposes in some contexts.

So what about the US National Lourdes Pilgrimage Office. This actually does exist. (http://www.lourdes-pilgrimage.com/) Is there such a division of the US State Department? No. Is there such a Division of USAID, which is under the US State Department? No. Is there such a Division of the White House? No. It is a private for -profit commercial enterprise run by a suburban Maryland housewife out of her house. It is an exclusively Catholic Pilgrimage Tourist Travel office. Nothing governmental about it. In fact, it would run deeply afoul of the Church-State Separation Doctrine if there were such an office of the US State Department because it is not only exclusively Catholic, but it is peculiarly Dominican, an order of Catholicism that a lot of American Catholics have issues with. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17728112
My personal experience is that it is the seat of the most virulently ignorant misogyny and nastiness against women in all of Christendom (not all of them, but some of them need to grow up). They have a competing "White House" -called the Dominican House of Studies-across from Catholic University in Washington, DC that rivals the actual White House in size and looks like a medieval castle of sorts. They boast an Archbishop from Washington of their order who now sits in the Holy See in an official Position. Recall that the Holy See is a Foreign Government. Friendly, but Foreign.
Some Protestants believe that the Catholic devotion to the intercession of saints dangerously borders on the prohibited practice of Necromancy, or consulting with spirits of the dead, which is flatly prohibited in the First Testament Scriptures. They find Catholic practices in large part laden with superstition and idolatry. Thus an exclusively Catholic Travel office of exclusively Catholic pilgrims, that gives free trips for Priests and Seminarians is something that would never be given an official office or department status with the US Government.

Yet this suburban housewife in Maryland gets away with calling her little enterprise, under the "spiritual guidance" of a Dominican Friar THE US National Lourdes Pilgrimage Office. Not one of a thousand tourist offices running pilgrimages to Lourdes annually but THE US National Office.

Why should anyone care about this deception and misrepresentation? Who cares really- ?
The fact is that this implicitly misrepresents not only to customers (innocent pilgrims who may naively think they are on some sort of official government mission by paying this women for travel arrangements or at least that is the apparently intended inference) but to the WORLD in which she travels and contracts that she has almost Ambassador status as the Director of this office. No one elected her to anything in the real US government, not the imaginary shadow Dominican one, no one appointed her Ambassador to anything, but she deals with airlines and tourist and travel functionaries abroad and hotels and rental bus services and meal providers and anyone else affiliated with a pilgrimage as THE US NATIONAL LOURDES PILGRIMAGE OFFICE. I wonder if she shnookered Air France (owned in large part by the French government) into thinking she is officially on US government business for free first class upgrades.

The European countries and people in them who do not have a constitutional separation of church-state doctrine may think that this is actually a legitimate US government entity or office because the concept is not all that historically alien to them to have religious endeavors endorsed by the government. It would be an easy sell, particularly in a place like Spain.

I, am not a competitor so it doesn't affect me a penny whether this woman runs this scam. I for one, as an American, however, am offended. There ought to be a law. And there is- somewhere in the bowels of the FTC. http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/false-advertising.html

Social Justice

People Who Stand With The Poor

Sometimes Get Martyred. The garbage Glenn Beck spews incites these sorts of rageful hateful acts against people who stand for 'social justice.' Jesus by the way, stood for the Poor (see, Matthew 25)

Case in Point: Murder of Archbishop Romero and a bunch of teaching Jesuits in El Salvador in the early 1980s.

This Saturday evening Holy Trinity in Georgetown is hosting the movie Romero in it's Theatre. There will be a (free) reception at 6:30 and a discussion.

Raul Julia plays Romero

You are invited. Come meet the 'social justice' advocates at Holy Trinity.

www.TRINITY.org

This film was produced by the ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE.
If your organization has not ordered it- you need to. You need to see this. We all do.

ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE. http://www.afj.org/

Their site explains:

President Barack Obama has ended six years of American torture of suspected terrorists arising from the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. The torture was originally outlined and sanctioned in 2002 by a series of memos drafted by lawyers in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. Were these lawyers simply giving the President their best legal advice? Or was their work part of a larger conspiracy to distort the law and authorize torture? Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced an investigation of CIA interrogators who exceeded the authority provided by the "torture memos." But the officials who ordered these actions, and the lawyers who provided the legal cover have not been held accountable.

http://www.truthout.org/what-torture-is-and-why-its-illegal-and-not-poor-judgment57622

When People In Authority Betray Your Trust

They Can't Stay in Your Authority

This is the conclusion I reached watching Karl Rove on Wolf Blitzer the other day still defend Bush as someone whose only mistake was not defending the world when they said he lied aggressively enough. This is the conclusion the entire country collectively reached in throwing the bums out. Unbelievable. The thing that is so appauling about people hanging on to illusions of power is that they persist in their delusions and lies and have done it so thoroughly for so long that they have convinced not only their power spectrum but themselves. Insane. I for one want Karl Rove to keep talking and hope Eric Holder is recording every statement. His lame "i didn't really leak valerie plame's name" excuse is amazing. Shocking even.

The very esteemed Fr. Tom Reese who is brilliant and spiritually astute beyond anyone's years made the well taken point today that the prodigal father didn't say to the returning contrite son "I will never trust you again, leave my sight now." But the hard part is that the returning son was actually contrite. OK Dad, I probably should have had a better financial plan than to squander it on my own ambitions and pleasure. OK Dad, I probably was wrong when I just took your loot and ran wishing you were dead and giving you such a shock it could have put you in an early grave. Sorry 'bout that, really.

The hard part is when people just carry on as though they were justified in their madness- and all the world has to eat it. In so doing all the world just becomes as mad as the idiot son who took his entire inheritance and blew it on bad wine, worse women and atonal song.

Jesus of course forgave even the folks who had no clue how off the mark they were- that's the point of Forgive them Father, they know not what they do. They are idiots, they don't get how evil they are being here. They actually think they are serving God by doing it all. In the later days, it is written, men will call what is good evil and what is evil good- and believe me, it has already started.

So if anyone has any brilliant ideas on how one truly becomes Christ-like and learns how to forgive the idiots for all the harm they do thinking in the self-righteous perversity that they are correct and even justified, please comment below email me. Because I am still in the "drop-kick them all from here to Egypt" mood.

In God

We Still Trust

In you, I still need to verify so keep your distance Gigolo-Boy. You may still not be worthy and a girl has to have standards.

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday rejected arguments by an avowed atheist who wanted to kick out the words "Under God" in the pledge of allegiance said in every American elementary school, pretty much every day and the words "In God we Trust" on US Currency.

He said it offended his beliefs or non-beliefs and so violated the separation of Church and State Doctrine.
We shall see soon whether he appeals to the Supremes and whether they dignify it with granting cert.

Who the Heck are these Red Caped Crusaiders

And Why Do They Care?


...and how do they keep those cape things on?

Why Stupak Isn't Stupid

And the rest of you are Schnooks on this Abortions in Health Care mess.

First of all, does Obama's word mean a damn thing or not? He said NO ABORTION COVERAGE in his health care. Is he a man of integrity or not?

Second of all- the Federal law currently is the Hyde Amendment: No Federal Funding for Abortions. Period. Read my lips- NO FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ABORTION. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment- If you can't read my lips read my blog.

Third of all, no universal FEDERAL FUNDING if you want to run over your aged mother with a car because you want the inheritance. No FEDERAL FUNDING for killing off your teenager if you don't want to pay for her college tuition, No FEDERAL FUNDING for kidnapping your grandma in a burlap sack and throwing her off the Eiffel Tower either. What are you nuts?
NO FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ABORTIONS. I am not paying for every skank- Ho in the country who thinks seducing a man is preferable to studying algebra. Get a Grip.

The Vice President says so, the House of Representatives has already said so in a vote, The President has already said so to the Nation. WE ARE NOT COVERING ABORTIONS IN HEALTH CARE. Don't lie about it, don't obfiscate it, like no one is going to find it in the fine print like no one reads the Congressional Record- just keep it out.
What are you 12? Who is running this country?

Just change the Channel

Another Beck Boycott urged:

Jim Wallace says just Shut Him Down. [editorial note: the man is an inflammatory nut job who should have "Planters" tatooed on his forehead.] no offense to planters, please don't sue me for sudden loss of revenue.



http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/11/christian-leader-calls-for-glenn-beck-boycott-over-social-justi/?icid=mainmaindl2link5http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2010%2F03%2F11%2Fchristian-leader-calls-for-glenn-beck-boycott-over-social-justi%2F

Tormenta de Toca

Yes, it's Torture moron. No Ifs Ands or But's about it.

It is simulated DROWNING. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22735168/

I Almost Threw Up Last Night

Watching Rachel Maddow.

You are too too star-struck Rachel. You had an interview with Pelosi and let her skate and didn't ask the obvious follow-up question: "Nancy, aren't you really hesitant to push for the Torture inquiry and prosecutions because the Republicans outsmarted even you and cleverly implicated you in agreeing to the torture of one or more of these suspects?"

Then Rachel follows up on her typical rant regarding homophobia smugly announcing herself a "co-habitator, homosexual, fornicator." What- you want a prize? That's the cr*p we have to overlook just to hear non-republican news? You get no points for that. Lame interview. We are tired of your self-justifications for your gayness. Get therapy. Here's a hint: even in the Jewish 613 laws homosexuality is blasted as a sin- no self-respecting Rabbi is impressed. The butch haircut-cute, even avante, a little Channellish even. The constant gay promotion- get over yourself. That's the stuff that makes you hard to swallow.

On another point, say a prayer for Keith Olberman who is dealing with something that sounds rather fatal regarding his father. He looks tired and upset and I am praying for you and your father Keith.

I beg now your indulgence regarding this scenario (suspend any disbelief for the purpose of the argument)
Last year, I took umbridge at the competitive disadvantage that a real estate developer who owned large shopping malls in an area I wanted to develop put me under, so I wanted to scare off all his customers. I drove my SUV into the shopping mall's parking lot and I sought to scare the people in the mall parking lot. Not only did I seek to scare them away, but I just ran them over. I didn't just hit and run them over, I made sure they suffered. I ran them over and over, first their legs until they were crushed and crippled and couldn't run, then their arms so they couldn't even wave for help then I just ran over their heads. A couple hundred maybe, not sure, I lost track counting. I did this in broad daylight and could hear everyone in the world yelling at me "Stop! Stop! You are a crazy lady!! What do you think you are doing. Stop! For God's Sake Stop!"
But, I did it! Mission Accomplished! Victory!! Thank you Jaaaaeeeessuuuuuss!!, it worked because the mall eventually went broke, and the developer sold his land to me. Horrahh!!! It was all justified. My husband says, lets move on now and look to the future.

That's essentially what Nancy Pelosi's argument is. Obama has said let's move on.

The Mengele Monsters who ran this campaign against Iraq should be prosecuted. END OF STORY. The moral depravity of the pathetic overlooking of these crimes is beyond a scandal.
WAKE UP.

It is perhaps time to retire Nancy as Speaker of the House.

Nancy goes, gee Iraq, that's a great tragedy. Thousands of lives lost. Hundreds of thousands of lives affected. Loss to our Treasury, etc...
Yes, and so WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

They are going to start calling Pelosi "Congresional Barbie" for her brain-dead lack of grasp of what she is really dealing with here. Nice suit. Nice beads. GET A CLUE.

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/karl-rove-says-hes-proud-us-used-waterboarding/19396354

Send Me To California

You Know You Want To Get Rid of Me

I want to help my friend Clint Curtis get elected in California. http://www.clintcurtis.com/
Really. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I want to go there, visit my uncle Bob and all my other california family and friends and take in that Northern California sunshine.

Admit it. You know I annoy the heck out of you. I provoke all kinds of controversy and division even. I am theologically rather conflicted. I inspire papal decrees and offices of adult education and catechism to clarify why I and everyone should go to confession. I drive nuts anyone who can't make sense of the fact that I am a rabid self confessed democrat and a catholic with the fact that I don't really loathe gay folks and delete emails from the family research council as spam. Admit it- you cringe everytime a blog entry surfaces on your twitter radar. You hate it when I tell you that your saint francis act is a sham when you kick the homeless guys out of the italian party night in the church basement.

So here is your chance- you can send me to California. Stop your belly aching, and just get out your visa. Just go to Clint Curtis's ACT BLUE site below and click and we can get me there for a good while. That way you are guaranteed to never see me until at least November. What a bargain! ACTBLUE account below-www.Clintcurtis.com

Happy Lent.

Emergency, It's Urgent, Trust Me.

Clint Curtis For Congress in California

Clint Curtis is running in California's Congressional 4th. (see below link)
He needs you to help him before California officially endorses next week. PLEASE (please get out your Visa now, not kidding) and go here: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/23914 TODAY.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING HERE. Not kidding. I'm checking.

www.Clintcurtis.com

Joke's on Me.

Very Funny

My friends at BRAVE NEW WORLD Films apparently did that spoof with Glenn Beck- but how did they get Glenn Beck to play Glenn Beck? You can't believe I'm that gullible can you!!
Donate to them....they do good work- they might tell their victims in advance though- my relatives were worried !!

https://bnf.democracyinaction.org/o/552/p/10040/donatetrack?utm_source=blackboard

Dieu Tout Puissant!

It means God Almighty! in French

In the good way- like God the Almighty one- it's not a taking in vain thing.

You know you rank when Glenn Beck spins a Facebook video linking you to spawn of Elvis! Someone tell him I am not running for anything. The question "should Obama distance himself from Cynthia Butler" is posted next to the link- to which I reply-I didn't know we were that cozy! Please, shhhh, don't tell Michele.

Here is the link which you may or may not be able to get here because it appears on Facebook and required a sign in to facebook. He ven-diagrams links to Elvis, Stalin's wife, unidentified "poor people" and other random craziness. Guilty of the Poor People association I confess- I represent some of them. I could use a few bucks myself.

http://beck.cnnbcvideo.com/?rc=fb.publish&fv=b600385-Q2pQ_.x#

Kidding aside, this was sent by my sister's sister in law - who actually watches Glenn Beck? I don't and don't recommend it. He's plainly a whack job. He gives me some credit for engineering the take over of the Republic by the Democrats. Thank you, thank you, bow, thank you.

(It's false but I am happy to take credit:-) Kidding.

He apparently asks for "punishment" requests to be sent to him. Is he offering a free trip to a rendition site in Uzbekestan?

He posts the crest I have on my facebook page (which makes me wonder what nut I friended in mistake so he could get it)-it's above. Don't know why this should offend so much- it is an Irish Family crest name "Butler" that I found on a coffee coaster while on catholic pilgrimage in Ireland.

The cups on it represent the Blood of Christ that was served during Inaugural masses as the "Butler" is an occupational name referencing that civil servant so trusted that he was allowed to guard the "cave", wine-cellar and serve the coronation wine to the King. Myth or reality had it that typically folks would try to kill off a new king by poisoning at the Coronation apparently- hence due to the trusted nature of such an honorable civil servant, the wine appeared on the family crest. That also may account for the significant number of Irish lushes in my family.

I count in my family an "honorable" Senate appointee, an American WWII legitimate War Hero who saved someone swimming to shore during the North African invasion, a President of a major fortune 500 corporation and numerous Vice Presidents, Harvard educated attorneys and just a lot of fine Americans. My roots trace back to Ethan Allen on one side so I may even be remotely related to John Kerry-or that's just wishful thinking. I did meet Theresa who spoke at my college once and worked on election fraud litigation after his campaign. Maybe that's what prompted the screed.

Clearly, Mr. Beck has me mistaken for someone far more influential. Someone tell him I am not running for anything. I am however guilty of being linked to "john hanshaw"-a creative genius- and posted lots of Elvis videos on my blog in past, because I am a fan. Can't say I have a drop of Russian blood anywhere in me. Should I ask my mother about the spawn of elvis thing? My Dad was actually cuter, but I don't mind the comparison, and she probably doesn't either.

I also (news to me) apparently, thinks Beck, have google search connections to terrorists- Does he know something about my opposing counsel? My biggest connection to Google is that my god-daughter just married a Google Executive and they now live in a beautiful home in Half Moon Bay.

He accuses me of being a rice eater- in sympathy with the chinese. I also love rice paella in sympathy with the Spanish but don't tell him. I confess to liking also rice pudding in sympathy with the British and anywhere else they make it. (I secretly watch the food channel to learn how the Barefoot Contessa makes it with coconut milk, sssshhhhh.)

As for my engineering the take over of the Republic, let me know if I can add that to my resume without getting charged with resume fraud. Should be worth a salary increase somewhere. Anyone in the market for a peaceful Republic change engineer? I don't come armed with anything but a free blog.

Glenn Beck. Someone fill his prescriptions soon.

Seriously, this is hysterical.

My Friend and YOURS

CLINT CURTIS FOR CONGRESS IN CALIFORNIA

Californians in the 4th Congressional District have a unique opportunity to vote into Congress someone with Spine and Backbone unparalleled.

CLINT CURTIS http://www.clintcurtis.com/
is someone who with one Affidavit knocked wide open the world of election fraud by exposing how he as a computer programmer was approached to rig an election by devising a vote flipping program that would engineer undetected a vote count switch- something that Republicans were paying to do apparently in Florida. At the time he was a Republican and expected to just go with the program. But he was too honest- he had that rare thing called Integrity that wouldn't allow him to keep silent. It cost him dearly, and catapulted him into the world of Congressional hearing rooms and media frenzy over faulty election machinery.
If you are an election protection attorney you should know who he is because he will be in the history books one day.

Next week California's democrats will be endorsing their candidates. Please show your support for Clint Curtis NOW so he can demonstrate the strength of his backing. Click on the
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/23914 TODAY. Really. This blog is free.
I don't ask for your contributions to read this. I don't make you buy a subscription or membership. I don't hit you up with a "donate" button every time you click on the link. I don't flood you with email spam. I have not asked for money before- i am asking you, yes you- Larry King, George Soros and John Conyers, please support Clint Curtis by clicking on that ActBlue
link today. I'm Serious.

Now We're Talkin

In Congressional Hearings.

Today at the Center for American Progress some of the bravest most honest attorneys appeared along with Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York to discuss why the government is letting the government skate on breaking the torture laws.
The fact that no accountability is offered in the form of a special prosecutor with any teeth to investigate itself really seriously while we know that Torture took place and it is a crime, means not only that there is no guarantee that it won't take place in the future if no one is held accountable, but it means that in fact, we don't know it is not going on right now. Bush looked us all in the eye and said -'we don't torture'- Is Obama closing down all extraordinary rendition- for sure- are you sure? Are we now not torturing anyone- for sure, are you sure?

If you don't prosecute violations of civil liberties there is no remedy for redress of a violation of civil liberties. Nadler made the exquisite point that the only thing that stops abuses from happening is if you can sue and the Courts tell you to stop (injunctive relief) or award damages.

Imagine this. You want to bring a lawsuit because a great wrong was done to you- say the government owned and serviced Toyotas and the government knew that the Toyotas had a recall on crazy accelerators but didn't tell everyone it made drive a Toyota on a government issued car. Suppose that the government actually had memos and emails in which high government officials said- let's not tell the schnooks- we don't want to pay for new ones. It's cheaper to let a statistical percentage of them to drive off cliffs than to replace the entire fleet of government Toyotas. Incriminating evidence-right? Imagine that the government claims "national security secrecy doctrine" so as to prevent all those memos and emails from ever making it to a jury. This sort of scenario actually made it to the Ninth Circuit and the panel of three wise judges determined- Foul Ball Government. You cannot do that- you have to demonstrate to the judge first (in camera) that there is actually any national security aspect to the things that you are hiding and withholding. First demonstrate "in camera" which means in a closed court to the trial judge, why you think that this has any national security aspect justifying the privilege to withhold the document. So what did the government do?
You are not going to believe this. They appealed it to the entire Ninth Circuit "en banc"-meaning that All the judges of the Ninth Circuit get to hear it now. Guess who sits on the Ninth Circuit. One of the guys who wrote the Torture Memos giving the government a golden shield 'get out of jail free' card- Bybee. Can you say "RECUSE YOURSELF" boys and girls. Who is filing that motion? Can you say "He's an Amici, She's an Amici, wouldn't you like to be an Amici too!"

Did you know that we have a Constitutional subcommitte in Congress. There is actually a committee in Congress, Nadler is the majority Chair and they are in charge of making sure that we all can do what ALL lawyers with a license have pledged to do: Uphold the US Constitution.

So where are all the Justice Department lawyers who are pledged to do this now? Where is Holder when he KNOWS that waterboarding IS torture (he said so at his confirmation hearings) and we KNOW that Cheney loves it (he's the world series, Superbowl hero of it apparently and his daughter can't stop saying how wonderful it is- wonder if she practices on her kids at bedtime when they don't eat their peas.) We know Torture is a Crime.
HOLDER. Where are you and what are you doing my friend?

If we are a country that only prosecutes laws, domestic and international when we like them, we are not a country of the Rule of Law. If we think that because the other side are sadistic crazies, we get to be sadistically crazy back that this solves anything other than turning the whole world into a crazy saddist madhouse, then we have lost our minds.

EVERY criminal prosecution looks backs. EVERY law demands enforcement or it should be repealed. EVERY violation of Torture should be investigated and prosecuted.

Winston Churchill said essentially (paraphrased) 'we are not a country that tortures'-because no civilized nation does, and tell me the other side in WWII didn't deserve it if anyone did. We don't gratuitiously kill -it's a violation of the Covenant we have with the Creator. "We don't torture" said Bush- like a kid who just lied to his mother when telling her the dog ate all the cookies in the jar- because even he knew it was wrong and so had to lie to the country--repeatedly.

EVERY Violation of Torture should be investigated and prosecuted- or we have NO assurance or trust that it isn't happening NOW, won't happen in the future.

Stay tuned Larry King and Anderson Cooper, for Jerry Nadler's hearings on TORTURE, coming to a Congressional hearing room near you.

The voice you hear when you open this blog is that of Nan Aron- see link below...
She is the Supremely impressive CEO/Director of the Alliance For Justice. I am not taking her voice off this until MSN (main stream media) and CNN and CPAN cover Nadler's Torture Hearings. http://www.afj.org/ (get a copy of their TORTURED LAW video/THANK YOU Center for American Progress for hosting its showing this evening.)

The Vatican on the Better Half (or 3/4s).

SOLUTIONS THAT RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF WOMEN

VATICAN CITY, 9 MAR 2010 (VIS) - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, yesterday addressed the fifty-fourth session of the Economic and Social Council's Commission on the Status of Women, which was meeting to discuss "Item 3: Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled 'Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century'".

Addressing the commission in English, Archbishop Migliore said: "From the successive interventions in these days, ... it seems that the assessment is not entirely positive: It includes some light, but also many and disturbing shadows.

"The advancements achieved regarding the status of women in the world in the last fifteen years include, among others, improvements in the education of girls, the promotion of women as key to eradicating poverty and fostering development, growth of participation in social life, political reforms aimed at removing forms of discrimination against women and specific laws against domestic violence", he added.

"In particular, among the many parallel events, some have stressed the indispensable role played by civil society in all its components, in highlighting the dignity of women, their rights and responsibilities. This having been said, women continue to suffer in many parts of the world".

The permanent observer highlighted the importance of not overlooking "violence in the form of female feticide, infanticide, and abandonment", as well as "discrimination in health and nutrition". He noted, moreover, how "girls and women 15 years of age and over account for two-thirds of the world's illiterate population".

The archbishop went on: "It is a sad fact that three quarters of those infected by HIV/AIDS are girls and women between the ages of 15 and 24", and that, among the victims of human trafficking, "minors account for up to fifty percent and approximately seventy percent are women and girls".

The reasons for this situation are to be found "in cultural and social dynamics as well as delays and slowness of policy", he explained.

"Achieving equality between women and men in education, employment, legal protection and social and political rights is considered in the context of gender equality. Yet the evidence shows that the handling of this concept ... is proving increasingly ideologically driven, and actually delays the true advancement of women. Moreover, in recent official documents there are interpretations of gender that dissolve every specificity and complementarity between men and women. These theories will not change the nature of things but certainly are already blurring and hindering any serious and timely advancement on the recognition of the inherent dignity and rights of women".

Archbishop Migliore stressed the fact that the final documents of international conferences and committees often "link the achievement of personal, social, economic and political rights to a notion of sexual and reproductive health and rights which is violent to unborn human life and is detrimental to the integral needs of women and men within society".

"A solution respectful of the dignity of women does not allow us to bypass the right to motherhood, but commits us to promoting motherhood by investing in and improving local health systems and providing essential obstetrical services", he said.

"Fifteen years ago the Beijing Platform for Action proclaimed that women's human rights are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. This is key not only to understanding the inherent dignity of women and girls but also to making this a concrete reality around the world", he concluded.
DELSS/CONFERENCE WOMEN/UN:MIGLIORE VIS 100309 (600)

Women Up

Happy International Women's Day

Today a delightful gathering of women and the men who love them lunched in style at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington, DC treated to a talk and a slide video-show by Hilda Solis, US Secretary for Labor on conditions of forced child labor.

The gathering was sponsored by the gracious hosts: Women's Foreign Policy Group (http://www.wfpg.org/) , the UN Information Center (http://www.unicwash.org/) and the UN Foundation (http://www.unfoundation.org/).

Hilda Solis has a remarkable story, a Latina from East LA, who was told by one high school counselor that she would make a decent secretary. She was happy to report that now she is- the US SECRETARY OF LABOR.

Don't you just love being underestimated.

The day marks the efforts being made to eradicate violence against women, equity in all aspects of work and life, elimination of sex trafficking of women and children and elevation of the dignity and status of women in a variety of geographic areas.

The brochure to the program reads in part "International Women's Day spells out our responsibility to work for enduring change in values and attitudes. It calls on us to work in partnership with governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector. It urges us to work for a transformation in relations between women and men, at all levels of society. It compels us to strengthen every means of empowering women and girls. "

Here is what my Italian friends report about the day in Italy:

La Giornata Internazionale della Donna", comunemente definita "Festa della Donna", è una giornata commemorativa celebrata l'8 marzo di ogni anno, che intende ricordare sia le conquiste sociali, politiche ed economiche delle donne, sia le discriminazioni e le violenze cui esse sono ancora fatte oggetto in molte parti del mondo.La mimosa, simbolo italiano della Festa della donna.

International Women's Day (IWD), commonly called "Festa della Donna" in Italy, is marked on the 8th of March every year. It's a day to remember the social, political and economic victories of women in addition to the discriminatory and violent conditions in which women still find themselves in many parts of the world.

Auguri alle donne e buona settimana a tutti!

Link for full Text of Labor Secretary Solis address below:

http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/speeches/20100308_IWD.htm

The Next Legal Line

Are alleged criminal 'Registries' unfair

In Britain they are thinking of creating a Registry for any kid who levels hate speech bullying a homosexual. http://americaneedsfatima.blogspot.com/2010/03/uk-govt-to-impose-hate-registers-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AmericaNeedsFatima+%28America+Needs+Fatima%29
Some kid will be forever stigmatized by the label of "hater" formally on a government register. Two offenses may get one locked up in juvie.
This sort of stigma could have profound implications on ability to get into a school of choice or career of choice.
Words clearly harassing like "fag" 'faggot' 'fudge packer' 'buggar' and the like, might no longer be considered funny or appropriate under any public circumstance. I just ask the question, not prepared to write the brief yet.
Does this infringe on what we consider First Amendment territory or could we see this here?
Is there sufficiently compelling government interest in curbing this sort of hate speech that overrides the First Amendment.
Does labeling Pastors who denounce loudly the forceful recognition of gay marriages in other states where it is not legal as haters create a potential infringement of First Amendment violations in this country? Pastors have already been locked up in Britain for allegedly anti-gay rhetoric in sermons.
They don't actually have a First Amendment in England- they don't have a Constitution. The First Amendment is the First Amendment to the US Constitution- thanks be to God.

I can say that "Thanks be to God" because we have a First Amendment to the US Constitution.

My apologies to

Mort Kondrake

Because I think I confused him with a more sinister Neo-Con in an earlier article in which
it is noted that he made fun of 9-11 truthers. The real Mort Kondrake is likely far more astute. A fine journalist with that journalistic integrity that would never dismiss the 9-11 truthers as mere conspiracy without a full vetting of all relevant facts. Not merely an RNC tool.
The other guy may have been mis-identified on the talking heads show or I may been half asleep when watching him- in any event, hope no harm no foul there to the real Mr. Mort Kondrake. Editorial error here which proves this is not an "inside the beltway" blog or surely they wouldn't have misidentified such a huge talking head.
Mia culpa, mia culpa, mia fortissima culpa.

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

The Class Liz Cheney Skipped in law School

Which was where? University of internet- diplomas- by- the- keg- on- the- seaside? Where did she go to law school really. Liz Cheney, a chipette of the old block-head, (nepotism had nothing to do with her post at State, nothing, really) is now using her non-profit org. (which takes less than $500 to incorporate) to blast actually educated attorneys now working in the Justice Department who represented unpopular causes to do what this country prides itself on: giving the best possible representation to all sides so that justice prevails rather than let people be buried alive by being out-lawyered whether they are innocent or not.
You will recall that the only thing that originally pegged many of the "enemy combatants" was that they were turned in by the Northern Alliance after we put out bounties-up to 25,000 US dollars (which buys a few rugs in Afghanistan) and next to none of our soldiers spoke Afghani to do anything like an initial interrogation to verify anything. Achmed was driving his niece in a Taxi to the other side of the poppy field and is met with a hostile band of Taliban defectors and they are all nabbed, shackled, injected and helicoptered commandeered to a secret rendition site in Uzbekestan where they are threatened with being boiled in oil if they do not 'confess' to being Al Quaida. This sounds like a bizarre plot out of a Jean LeCarre novel but this sort of thing actually happened.
There are likely as many tales of us getting a totally innocent guy, wrong place at the wrong time captures as there are guys who really had anything against us. We now know more and more about the people who had nothing, zero do to with any war against the US whom we snatched up, kidnapped, some killed off in detention, others we were forced to release, and others still linger without a proper trial. This is why we have something called habeus corpus. it is a fundamental basic principle of liberty at the root of our justice system- and that of all civilized nations. We don't get to lock up people for minding their own business. We sure as you know what don't get to torture them for minding their own business- and if we actually succeed in killing them, when all they were doing is minding their own business, IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY, we are guilty of murder- and some of them are. War when "unjust" is nothing but mass murder. And it's architect was little miss lizzie's Daddy.

All this for a war that Karl Rove himself now in his book maintains Bush wouldn't have entered into had he known that there were no weapons of WMD. The entire premise of the War was a crock. Of course he didn't need a premise and likely would have gone on anyway as it was planned long before 9-11 by Cheney and the neo-cons like Wolfowitz who plotted regime change in the mid-1990s.

The "Innocent until proven Guilty" predicate of our entire judicial system is something that was completely perverted and undermined by the wartime suspension of civil rights and liberties by Liz's neanderthal attorney-loathing father (who by the way either flunked out of or was kicked out of Yale as a student and went back West with his darted tail between his legs). The only lawyers he liked were the ones who misadvised him concerning the expiring statutes of limitations and the definitions of torture that created a golden shield for his violations of international law and basic human rights standards of decency recognized by most civilized nations. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/liz-cheney/2010/03/

The one DOJ guy he likes, who thought boxing people in small boxes with insects crawling around and pinning them down to a board for simulated drowning by gagging them and pouring water on the cloth was not classic 'torture' would be banned from a position even in the Dominican Spanish Inquisition, but Cheney/Bush appointed him to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This in spite of a formal DOJ report that labels his "judgment" "poor" with regard to his formal opinions on "non-torture." (Don't get me started on fraudulent non-disclosures to the Senate that, if they were disclosed would have barred him from the position.) Because that is who you want on the Court just one below the Supreme Court- someone whose "Judgment" is "poor." This sort of nonsense completely undermines faith and credibility in the Judiciary. It provokes loud outcries of "Are You Kidding Me!" Yes, the Ninth Circuit should be seeing a resignation soon. ('Should' doesn't mean it will actually happen, but that it darn sure Should.) It's called a Fraud on the Senate. Bybee. Give me a break.

Little Miss Lizzie needs to take a few more CLE courses. Here's a quiz-how many Charters are there in the UN Convention on Human Rights, how many domestic or international statutes or treaties speak to "torture", how many times did they waterboard the person they waterboarded the most and was your Dad eating cheetos or blue corn chips with cheeze-whiz while reading the reports? Here's another quiz- what is a court appointed attorney and why are all criminal defendants by law in this country given one paid for by the State if they cannot afford one- surely you must have seen at least one episode of something in which you heard the phrase as a child "if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you." Law and Order maybe? Hawaii Five-O, Dragnet? Have you ever seen the inside of a courtroom? Law Students in Court maybe as a 2L? Do you know what a public defender office is? Are you aware that in lawsuits attorneys typically represent both sides in criminal matters- that's why there is a prosecution table and a defense table.

Seriously. Republicans used to be the folks you sort of looked up to, felt they knew what they were talking about even if you disagreed with them. You didn't tend to think that they were out of their minds, just hard hearted. The Cheney-Bush reign and progeny in the hateful insane war-mongering catering to the defense contractors who paid for Cheney's Saint Michael's estate,
have done more to undermine the legacy of Abraham Lincoln for the Republicans to the point where he was completely symbolically appropriated by Obama. The 'we keep you safe by demonizing the Muslims" mantra is old and pathetic. http://www.aolnews.com/politics/article/conservatives-condemn-liz-cheneys-a-qaida-7-attack-ad/19386210

I went to high school in London, England. I went to school with Indians and Pakistanis- there are a lot of them in England-Great Britain used to colonize them-so they speak English, with proper British accents. They are a far far more civilized educated population for the most part than the people living behind barbed wire fences with snarly german shepherd watch dogs in central Texas who drive pick up trucks, with shot guns, have fifth grade educations, and get season work on the riggs.
And we still don't know why Cheney misdirected all the F16s from Langley the wrong direction out to the Atlantic rather than over the Pentagon. No one even bothers to ask the question anymore. Don't get me started Miss Lizzy. http://911lies.org/was_911_an_inside_job.html

You Know Someone

Who ORDERED the Murder of the Following People:

1/ Detainee No. A03-51: Died June 6, 2003: 52 years old, died from strangulation/asphyxia, blunt force trauma injuries, abrasions consistent with brutal restraints, ruled : homicide.

2/ Detainee No.. NEo3-504, died 11/4/2003, Iraqi national, died from crushed thorax, respiratory failure/consistent with strangulation, complicated by blunt force trauma injuries, ruled: homicide

3/ Detainee No. NE03-571, 11/26/03.
Iraqi national died in custody of asphyxia consistent with strangulation. ruled: homicide

4/ Death 4/5/2004-after tortured, blunt force trauma and period of struggling against restraints died in sleep. ruled: homicide

5/ Death 1/1/2004-after tortured, blunt force trauma, gagged and period of struggling against restraints died. ruled: homicide

6/ Died 11/26/2004-Asphyxia, chest compression after blunt force trauma, ruled: homicide

7/ Died -11/4/2003-in Abu Ghraib, chest compression, asphyxia, respiratory failures. ruled: homicide

8/Died 12/10/2002-in Bagraim, blunt force trauma injuries to head; ruled: homicide

9/Died 12/3/2002-Bagraim-pulmonary embolism after blunt force injury to legs, respiratory failure, ruled: homicide

10/Detainee NE04-14, died 1/9/2004. Iraqi detainee, blunt force trauma, deep lung contusions and compressed chest, hemorrhage internally, shackled to door frame with gag in mouth, hanging position and blocked oral cavity with blunt force to head. ruled : homicide.

(just ten of hundreds and hundreds if not thousands who died in US detention)

NONE of these people were found guilty of ANYTHING prior to their deaths that justified being in US detention. For all we know their cousins coveting their lands sold them for the bounties we put out.
These are all deaths that are documented in the papers that the ACLU was able to obtain through the Freedom of Information Act. Last night they read some of the papers at an event in Georgetown Law Center's moot courtroom.

Who is responsible for these "homicides?"
Who ultimately is responsible?
Many many people would like to see Cheney tried for War Crimes. Every time that they cart out his sadistic face on television it loses another House seat for Republicans because Cheney, "big fan" of "water boarding" is viewed as the most twisted sick sinister piece of Garbage ever to call himself a public servant.

Eric Holder needs to do what the rest of the world already has done- He needs to make accountable what the rest of the world will if we do not. He needs to PROSECUTE war crimes by the misfits and miscreants who sullied the name and flag of America with their horrendously demonic perverse sadism. NONE of this is justified by "national security" and it did and continues to do a lot to undermine it.

You can go on line at http://www.thetorturereport.com/ and find documents for yourself.
There is enough there to start a prosecution.

The Gate is Narrow

The Hypocrites are Locked Out.

Hypocrite is a term levelled at pretty much any politician you don't agree with in any given campaign cycle. It is a term not a little over- trivialized by overuse. But what really is a 'hypocrite" and why did Jesus blast them from here to eternity? These were the people who ran around condemning others for not following all the minutia of the laws while they locked out the spirit of the law, which was LOVE. God is LOVE, remember. "White-Washed Tombs full of dead men's bones" is one way they are referred to. "Vipers" -snakes. Clearly, Jesus came in part to blow these folks out of the water. They were making life miserable.
So Jesus has some pretty harsh words for these people - and he flatly says that they won't be coming along with him into Paradise. Too full of themselves and their self-righteousness judging others into misery gloatingly. Missing the Mark of the Spirit of Truth based and rooted in Love.
Well then, Who are the people that scripture says will actually get to Heaven?

1. Those whose righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law of Jesus' day.
See, Matthew 5:19-21
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

2. Those who do the Will of God the Father.
See, Matthew 7:20-22
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

3. Those who are like 'children'
See, Matthew 18:2-4
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

4. Those who are 'poor in spirit' i.e. spiritually humble as in the Sermon on the Mount,
See, Matthew 19:22-24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven [than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle].

5. Those who are not stumbling blocks to others reaching God by slamming heaven's door on them.
See, Matthew 23:13
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Matthew 23:12-14 (in Context) Matthew 23 (Whole Chapter)

Now get a Biblical Concordance or your favorite Bible Search tool on line, and google these terms "drunkards, slanderers, fornicators" and find how many times it says that those folks too will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Neither drunkards, slanderers, nor fornicators....will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Go find it- I know you can. Start with 1 Corinthians 6:10.

So what is happening in Ecclesiastical Circles in Washington, DC now? They are in a whizzing match with the secular authorities (e.g. the DC City Council) playing pin the tail on the Sin's A**
of homosexuality. One sin, one massive condemnation. Don't get me wrong- whether or not one thinks it is sin or not (the Catholic world clearly has an official position on it while some are guilty of it-and they know who they are) - and have now resorted to responding to the DC City Council by punishing anyone who wants to work for Catholic Charities by refusing to give ANYONE spousal insurance coverage because they don't want to cover gay spouses. This is after they already dumped their foster and adoption care program because they don't want to serve "eligible" (according to the DC City Council) homosexual couples in providing adoptions to them with equal consideration to heterosexual couples.

There are a lot of sins out there. Presumably there is no questionnaire form one fills out for insurance coverage or spousal coverage with Catholic Charities in which the Archdiocese asks:
1. Have you ever 'fornicated.' 2. Have you ever slandered anyone (that eliminates half the jealous old parish council dames I met at one church) 3. Have you ever committed adultery (also a sin) 4. Are you remarried without an annulment? 4. Have you ever been drunk and how regularly? 5. Have you ever fondly touched yourself (also a grave sin.) and the like....

None of these Kingdom Expulsion sins apparently gets any consideration for insurance consideration with the DC Archdiocese, but they single out the sin of homosexuality? Why?
I submit that it is a political issue. That sin gets Republicans really riled up-and they are huge money donors. In fact it fuels all kinds of self-righteous hate- mongering and epithetic spitting in the face if the Archdiocese persecutes gays. These right wing-nuts cannot handle that there is a "Log Cabin Republican" contingent nor that their Torture Hero Cheney has a gay daughter who artificially inseminated herself with a syringe. That does not compute. But what raises revenue is cutting off insurance benefits apparently.

Don't get me started on 'thieves' and 'swindlers.' Con Men and common thieves don't get in either. Did you put on the questionaire 'have you defrauded anyone lately?' That might even eliminate a few people we all know.

Who really is getting into the Kingdom. Who really is doing God's will?

"We don't torture," Bush never lied, and I am the King of Siam I Am.

See the Alliance for Justice website for updates. http://www.AFJ.org/


I asked a question at the end. Someone tell me if they caught it. We are talking about
TORTURE people. Like worse than stringing up by the toenails, whipping with a wet
noodle. We are talking about people DYING in detention because we TORTURED them.