Will Specter’s Switch Now Equal Justice for Our Troops?

Equal Justice for Troops blog.

Arlen Specter has been trying, since 2007, to work with the Republican blockheads in the Senate to cease their resistance to a bill that would provide the same equal protection under the law for our Military as every other American citizen.

What’s even worse about these Republican members of the Senate is that these same individuals who would deny our soldiers the right to appeal to the Supreme Court have already allowed our enemies that same right of appeal!

Specter has tried, while as a member of the Republican party, to reason and work with these extremists.  But, like many of us, he probably knows now that these new Republicans no longer reflect the ideals of Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan.  Most shameful about this is, where is John McCain on this issue?  Remember that McCain is a Veteran and former POW who claims he stands up for our troops!

By joining the Democrats, however, Specter may give the Democrats the necessary power of the vote to finally pass this important law that would bring equity to our honorable members of the military.

So much for the Republican claim of supporting our troops!  It amounts to no more than a wave of a little American flag while shouting “Go get ‘em boys!”  Sports fans support their teams better than that!

What really bothers me the most about this is that  currently the law looks at our enemies with greater equity than our troops!  Why would anyone who calls themself an American dishonor those who defend us by denying them their due rights?

 

Does Washington Get It?

Bob Woodward, yesterday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said that the controversy resulting from Obama’s release of the Justice Department’s memos regarding enhanced interrogation would not be going away soon.  The debate over the serious issues of whether these memos recommended torture or not and what, if anything, we should do “has legs,” Woodward said.

Woodward joined Bob Schieffer as part of a panel discussion in the last half of the program following up on double interviews about the memos with Senators John McCain and Patrick Leahy.

Although McCain and Leahy are on opposite sides of the aisle, they both agree that abuses, like those which occurred in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during the Bush Administration, can never again happen, but, that’s where their agreement ends.

No surprises that Republican McCain and Democrat Leahy would disagree on what should be done about what was revealed in these memos, but what is surprising is that McCain is actually more in agreement with Obama on this issue than Leahy!

McCain is all for moving forward…more a forgive and forget attitude with it being enough that our current President has ordered an end to such actions. This is essentially the same position supported by Obama.

Leahy, on the other hand, is still pushing for his Truth Commission which isn’t getting a lot of play from either party.  Yesterday, Leahy explained that this commission of his would combine the efforts of several Senate committees including his own Judiciary which he chairs.

Unfortunately, neither of these Senators get it.  They are both wrong in how they’re handling this situation.  And, both of them, if they do eventually get their acts together, either collectively with each other or by themselves, have the power to make lasting change which will return honor to our country!

First of all, we can’t just go on, taking it as enough that this Administration has ordered a stop to these actions, as McCain says, and that no future Administration would attempt such actions because of what’s happened.  Really?

Who can say what the future will bring?  And who can be sure of the character of any future administration, of either party?

Taking it on word, or faith alone, is not enough because we have already seen what can happen when leaders are filled with fear and ignorance on how to handle an enemy.

Leahy’s commission would be a mistake too!

To what ends would this commission go?  Would it turn into a witch hunt?  Would it wind up potentially prosecuting just a few who are low on the totem pole while letting the big guys go?  Or would it go after Bush himself, and Cheney?

And what good would that do if they did go after those at the top including Bush?

What if they just decided to go after the legal eagles – the attorneys and law advisors who wrote these memos?  Do you really believe, if they did, that any President in the future would ever be able to get advice again?  Not likely, if they’d have to fear that the next Administration, or thereafter, would come after them for their opinions!

I’m sure the Press would have a field day with a spectacle of former Bush officials, and even Bush or Cheney themselves, being called to the Hill and questioned under oath, but, a process like this would probably take years and would also be expensive.  No matter how it was conducted, it would turn into a media circus and become a distraction from important issues and a huge embarrassment for our country!  Besides, Obama would probably wind up pardoning top people anyway even if they did go after Bush or Cheney; like Ford pardoned Nixon.

I was a young adult during Watergate; this Truth Commission has the potential to be worse than Watergate and, right now, we cannot afford the distraction with all the challenges this nation faces!  Besides, I think a lot of us are sick and tired of this back and forth between parties and, if Leahy gets his way, it will look to many Americans as some sort of “get back” or getting even on the Republicans.

I remember the Clinton impeachment, which I thought was a waste of time and distraction.  Who knows how differently things might have gone had Congress had the wisdom to avoid such a sordid affair?

The fact is that both sides are now playing to supporters to fulfill their own agendas, and neither side is effectively dealing with the real issue at hand:  that is, making absolutely sure that nothing like this ever happens again.

These two honorable Senators – McCain and Leahy – have the ability in their hands to solve this, and yet, they don’t seem to realize it!

Both Senators, jointly or exclusively, should WRITE LEGISLATION and introduce it to the Congress to make sure that no President shall ever again consider or ask for advice on how to apply what some consider torture to captured prisoners of war.

Define it, Senators, spell it out in legislation!  Define in clear and certain terms what is considered torture.  Spell out, Senators, for future Administrations, what is considered "torture" so that there is no uncertainty what can and cannot be done!

Only through legislation can this country truly move forward and not risk this ever happening again!

NOTE:  If you want to read the released memos for yourself, here’s the link:  http://documents.nytimes.com/justice-department-memos-on-interrogation-techniques#p=1.

Technorati Tags: Obama,torture memos,McCain,Leahy,Truth Commission,Clinton,Nixon,Watergate,Bush,Cheney,Bob Woodward,Bob Schieffer,Meet the Press

 

Now the Hard Work Begins

The Economic Stim Package passed the Senate today 61 to 37, but don’t breathe a sigh of relief yet because now the hard work begins.

The bill was passed in the Senate mostly along party lines with only 3 Republicans voting for it; but those 3 Republicans are very important and their votes must be kept in the “aye” category when the bill comes back from the House which is expected to revise it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she hoped there would not be a lot of wrangling and that they might be able to return the bill to the Senate within 24 hours, according to the NY Times.  However, when Pelosi was pressed for a definite timetable of one day, she wouldn’t commit saying instead, “Well, I hope that is so,” according to the NY Times.

President Obama has his work cut out for him – with inflexible Republicans in the Senate who seem to have no solutions but are ever intent on obstructing progress PLUS House Democrats who are intent on “porking” the bill up for things that are not needed immediately.

Obama, however, appears to be up to the challenge!

Going back to basics, President Obama has re-entered the campaign trail – this time in favor of getting this country out of economic trouble.  Yesterday, he was in a community in Indiana that has been hard hit by the Meltdown; and today he was in Florida in a community which has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to MSNBC’s Hardball.

His aim is not to brow-beat or pound the bully pulpit, but instead to just talk with residents of communities hurting by this financial crisis.  At both events, yesterday and today, the crowd was not pre-screened or hand-picked but instead was on a first come basis.  Furthermore, both counties in Indiana and Florida did NOT vote for Obama in the Election but instead supported McCain.

Instead of taking the Washington Way which means spinning the public while catering to the special interests and wealthy only, President Obama is taking it directly to the People, even those who did not vote for him.  Obama is coming before everyday Amercans with absolutly no idea what they’re going to say to him or what they’re going to ask; the people attending have not been scripted or screened prior to the meeting.  In that respect, Obama is taking a chance, but he is obviously strong enough and feels the Amercan people and our economy are worth his own risk of possibly being embarrassed.

Govenor Charlie Crist joined President Obama onstage today in Florida in a show of bipartisan support; let’s hope the Senate Republicans get the message.

Obama told the Florida audience that he would not allow Washington to continue its tired old ways of doing nothing.  Saying that inaction “is not an option,” Obama promised results saying, “You didn’t send me to Washington to do nothing,”  according to the NY Times.

 

Um, That’s Obama With a “B”

Source:  New York Times – Opinion

NY Times article by The Editorial Board reveals an apparent (?) “typographical error” in some of New York’s Rennselaer County absentee ballots shocked voters by replacing a “b” with an “s”:

Voters who wanted absentee ballots in an upstate New York County were surprised to see the name of the Democratic Presidential candidate. On the ballot, it read “Barack Osama.”

Major oops or dirty trick?

After the Albany Times-Union newspaper revealed the problem ballots on Friday, the Rensselaer County Board of Elections inisisted that the rendering of Barack Obama’s name was a simple mistake, and insisted that it was included on “only 300 of more than 4,000″ ballots.

“The board of elections acted quickly to correct the typographical error and regrets the error,” the board said in a statement. “The error was not deliberate and the Board of Elections is continuing to fairly manage the upcoming General Election in a bi-partisan and cooperative manner.”

I suppose it might be possible that the mix-up is really an “error” but I highly doubt it; I mean unless the person doing the typing did it in the dark or perhaps the person was illiterate and can’t read the difference between an “s” and a “b” BUT I still don’t think so because if it was some kind of error due to a bad typist:

1. There would have been a lot more errors than just these two letter; and,
2. Proofreading would have and should have caught all typos.

Besides, the “s” and the “b” on the keyboard are, as most of us know, not even next to each other so, no, I don’t think it was so accidental but instead it was someone’s mean-spirited stunt.

If you click on the link below and scroll down to the end of the short Times article, you’ll see in the comments section that a lot of other people think it wasn’t an accident either and, apparently, the County Board of Elections in the upstate New York received lots of surprised and angry calls (see link inside articles block quote above).

Hatefulness is alive and unfortunately well in this election year!

Um, That’s Obama with a “B” – The Board Blog – NYTimes.com

Technorati Tags: 2008 election,2008 elections,2008 presidential,barack,barack obama,campaign watch,democrats,dnc,double standards,elections,elections 2008,john mccain,mccain,media scandals,news,obama,politics,polls,presidential campaign,sarah palin

 

Not Buying Bailout Scare Tactics

by Mary Curtis

The two Presidential candidates are supposed to be the declared “leaders” of their respective parties but, that having been said, neither has demonstrated leadership skill when it comes to dealing with their own party members in the past few days.  This lack of leadership appears to be much worse for McCain who gambled on being the Hero of the Bailout Crisis and lost big time in both the polls and with his own party members in the Congress.

But both Obama and McCain are now probably scratching their heads wondering what will come next in the strange politics evolving over this financial bailout mess.  While both campaigns expected passage of the massive billion dollar rescue program…each having already prepared celebratory ads taking credit for its passage…the bill’s failure in the House gave each candidate a reality check and wake up call that the American people are speaking with a very loud voice this year.

In what MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow describes as “cats barking and dogs purring” the Democratic Party (and Obama) seem to be trying to, at least, work toward a more unified image than the “leaderless” Republicans, according to Maddow.  Even though Obama appears to be supporting Congress’ taking action on the financial crisis, he is also aligning himself with those Democrats opposed by meeting them on common grounds of protecting the average American against a handout to Wall Street greed and irresponsibility.  Obama, unlike McCain, has indicated that the only way he would support a rescue program was if it protects the American taxpayers and homeowners as well as having oversight rather than the tsar-like powers for the Secretary of the Treasury in the current bill (see Section 8 of bailout text which gives full authority to the Secretary without review by the Courts or any other authority).

 Watch video of Dennis Kucinich on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show explaining why he voted “no” to bailout.

With that in mind, Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) may have a plan that can bring everyone together…including those Republicans who broke with the Administration and their party’s candidate to oppose the current “bailout” legislation.

Kucinich was one of 95 Democrats (of 235 Democrats) who opposed the $700 billion bailout bill thereby breaking with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and accounting for a full 40% of House Democrats.  In an e-mail sent out by Kucinich, he describes his and the other Representatives’ reasons for taking a united stand against both parties’ strong arming scare tactics in favor of the American People:

“Yesterday marked a day that will go down in history, when Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike took on full responsibility to protect the interests of taxpaying Americans, and defeated the deceptive bail out bill, defying the dictates of the Administration, the House Majority Leadership, the House Minority Leadership and the special interests on Wall Street.“

The rest of the letter from Kucinich details WHY we MUST take action…just NOT this action that the Administration and some in Congress want us to rush to passage; he also details what we should be doing instead.

“Obviously Congress must consider quickly another course. There are immediate issues which demand attention and responsible action by the Congress so that the taxpayers, their assets, and their futures are protected.

We MUST do something to protect millions of Americans whose homes, bank deposits, investments, and pensions are at risk in a financial system that has become seriously corrupted. We are told that we must stabilize markets in order for the people to be protected. I think we need to protect peoples’ homes, bank deposits, investments, and pensions, to order to stabilize the market.

We cannot delay taking action. But the action must benefit all Americans, not just a privileged few. Otherwise, more plans will fail, and the financial security of everyone will be at risk.

The $700 billion bailout would have added to our existing unbearable load of national debt, trade deficits, and the cost of paying for the war. It would have been a disaster for the American public and the government for decades and maybe even centuries to come.

To be sure, there are many different reasons why people voted against the bailout. The legislation did not regard in any meaningful way the plight of millions of Americans who are about to lose their homes.  It did nothing to strengthen existing regulatory structures or impose new ones at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve in order to protect investors. There were no direct protections for bank depositors. There was nothing to stop further speculation, which is what brought us into this mess in the first place.

This was a bailout for some firms (and investors) on Wall Street, with the idea that in doing so there would be certain, unspecified, general benefits to the economy.

This is a perfect time to open a broader discussion about our financial system, especially our monetary system. Such a discussion is like searching for a needle in a haystack, and then, upon finding it, discussing its qualities at great length. Let me briefly describe the haystack instead.

Here is a very quick explanation of the $700 billion bailout within the context of the mechanics of our monetary and banking system:

•  
  • The taxpayers loan money to the banks. But the taxpayers do not have the money. So we have to borrow it from the banks to give it back to the banks. But the banks do not have the money to loan to the government. So they create it into existence (through a mechanism called fractional reserve) and then loan it to us, at interest, so we can then give it back to them.

Confused?

This is the system. This is the standard mechanism used to expand the money supply on a daily basis not a special one designed only for the “$700 billion” transaction. People will explain this to you in many different ways, but this is what it comes down to.

The banks needed Congress’ approval. Of course in this topsy turvy world, it is the banks which set the terms of the money they are borrowing from the taxpayers. And what do we get for this transaction? Long term debt enslavement of our country. We get to pay back to the banks trillions of dollars ($700 billion with compounded interest) and the banks give us their bad debt which they cull from everywhere in the world.

Who could turn down a deal like this? I did.

The globalization of the debt puts the United States in the position that in order to repay the money that we borrow from the banks (for the banks) we could be forced to accept International Monetary Fund dictates which involve cutting health, social security benefits and all other social spending in addition to reducing wages and exploiting our natural resources. This inevitably leads to a loss of economic, social and political freedom.

Under the failed $700 billion bailout plan, Wall Street’s profits are Wall Street’s profits and Wall Street’s losses are the taxpayers’ losses. Profits are capitalized. Losses are socialized.

We are at a teachable moment on matters of money and finance. In the coming days and weeks, I will share with you thoughts about what can be done to take us not just in a new direction, but in a new direction which is just.”

Kucinich also encourages every American to become more familiar with our monetary system and the topic of debt with an animated documentary

“Money as Debt”which Kucinich says “is a useful, though by no means definitive, introduction to the topic of debt and the monetary system.”(Note:  Bold text has been added here to highlight important passages.)