Vote for Democracy

I believe that it's time for every Democrat Senator to stand on principle and support a filibuster of the Alito nomination.

It seems to me that Judge Alito does not believe in the tripartite, equal division of powers that the founders of our country wrote into the Constitution. It appears that his thinking goes more to the power of the Executive branch trumping the Congress, and making the Judicial branch the willing handmaiden of the Executive.

This is absolutely contrary to the intent of the writers of the Constitution who had just concluded a War of Revolution against England and the power of the King. Alito would turn back history and cancel the genius of our Constitution and it's guarantees of liberty and freedom for all. He would support the concept of "Big Brother is watching you", as is exemplified in Bush's belief that warrants issued by a court are not necessary to spy on United States citizens.

This is a slippery slope that eventually will end in the pit of fascism, and will signal the end of "The land of the free and the home of the brave".

Uncle Walter has spoken

Yesterday's headline:

Cronkite: Time for U.S. to Leave Iraq

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

Sunday, January 15, 2006

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/15/entertainment/e154744S99.DTL&hw=Cronkite&sn=001&sc=1000

We were mired in an impossible situation in Vietnam when "Uncle Walter" gave his opinion. He was right then, He's right now. Is anyone listening?

Samuel "Machinegun Sammy" Alito

The Senate is considering the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.  One of the stranger cases he has ruled on in a lower court involved machine gun possession. Alito believes that Congress has no right to regulate machineguns. Below is the link to an article on this and a quote from the article.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/02/MNG0DFHNR71.DTL

"Whatever role machine guns play in nationwide crime, Alito said, the mere act of possessing one within a state is no more of an interstate, or economic, activity than possessing a gun near a school. "

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As I understand it, it's against Federal law to grow, possess and use marijuana. Using Alito's machine gun logic, if the pot you grow, possess and use never enters into interstate commerce, the  Feds should have no regulatory rights.

What am I missing here?

 

National debt and private debt

Two headlines from the San Francisco Chronicle Business section, Sunday, Jan. 8th.

Click on the headlines to link to the articles.

Americans saving less than nothing
Spending could outstrip income in 2005, which hasn't happened since the Depression
- Tom Abate

U.S. hovers close to its debt ceiling
Treasury boss says government business could be affected
- Tom Abate

This is damnfool economics on both government and personal level. No good can come from such stupid behavior. People better wake up before it's too late.

Is there no honor among thieves?

Try to imagine how nervous some congressmen must be since they learned that Duke Cunningham was wearing a wire for a short time.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20060106-23413300-bc-us-cunningham-crn.xml

There truly is no honor among thieves. A palpable atmosphere of fear and suspicion must hang over every conversation between some of these people.

We elected them, and they are supposed to be working for us. NO WAY! Many of them are going to the highest bidder, and the voter is left behind.

"So are they all, all honourable men" Shakespeare

Jack Abramoff has no friends anywhere now. His ship is sinking fast and the rats are deserting even faster.

How far do the evil tentacles of the octopus extend? How many in high places are in the grip?

Tom DeLay would seem to be one of the major beneficiarys of Abramoff largess. It's on the record that 2 of Tom's fervent supporters are Bush and Cheney. How deep are they immersed in this cesspool of corruption?

For democracy to survive and thrive, honorable men must hold the reins of power.

 

 

How the mighty have fallen,----------------

-------------or are about to.

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT,  as paperboys used to shout on street corners as they tried to sell a few extra papers in their bag.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/03/national/a073843S42.DTL

Jack Abramoff is singing like the proverbial canary as he tries to reduce his legal liability to something less than life in prison.

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely". The Republicans have let their power blind them to their sworn duty to the country, and instead have concentrated on self aggrandizement. This must stop, and we must hope that those who follow the fallen into power will have learned a lesson, and put duty to country before self.

Posted later: Listening to the talking heads bandy about the huge sums of money involved in this case caused this thought.

There can be no doubt that we have the best government money can buy.

Abramoff is rolling over on members of Congress, probably including Tom DeLay. Will Tom roll over on someone very high in the food chain? And if so, who might that be?

Abramoff said a curious thing in court today. One of his statements referred to forgivness by the "Almighty" Is it God he's referring to, or some mortal being with the power to pardon? Is there a subtle and veiled threat here?

Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Interesting!