Posts from — June 2008

So, have you finally figured out they are not your friends, and what is important to you is not important to them? Do you realize that most of the people involved are careerists, not activists? Can you understand that they are almost all politicians, not statesmen?

How do we help while awaiting the arrival of Nemesis to deliver them to the flames?

Politicians need two things to attain and stay in office: money and votes. Do not provide either, and drop them a note making sure they understand that they will receive neither from you, ever.  Be polite, and concise.

This absolutely, positively, unequivocally does not mean don’t vote and don’t contribute. If you drop out, you reduce your political value to zero. Always vote, and contribute what you can to people who support you and your ideals. You want them to know they have lost something, and it went to someone else.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Seems like only yesterday this meant something.

Via Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog, a visible satellite image from NASA’s Aqua spacecraft on Monday, June 23, 2008. The fires are on the ridges and mountains around California’s Central Valley. Every red dot is a fire.

Because the rest of the news is just depressing.

You can read all kinds of stories about the FISA, but Ken Strickland, Senate Producer, NBC News, has this version out tonight: Dems cut surveillance deal with White House

WASHINGTON – In the war on terror, Democrats claim President Bush has abused the power of his office, violated civil rights, and trampled on the Constitution.

But when given the chance last week to challenge the administration’s use of wiretapping, Democratic leaders instead chose to cut a deal with the White House.

The result? It may now never be known if the Bush administration broke the law or sidestepped the Constitution when it launched its secret surveillance program shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.
…

On Thursday, the Senate is expected to give final passage to that deal — a bill that better regulates ongoing surveillance activity.
…

[Read more →]

This is a list of the Senators that opposed this bill from the beginning:

Roll call vote on FISA amendment S.2248, February 12, 2008, 05:30 PM

Clinton (D-NY) and Obama (D-IL) were not present for the vote, as it was scheduled on a day with primary elections.

Ten more Senators are need to sustain a filibuster, if both Clinton and Obama oppose the current bill.

From CNN’s US page:

On the West Coast –800 fires in Northern California

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — In less than a day, an electrical storm unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes that set more than 800 wildfires across Northern California, a rare example of “dry lightning” that brought little or no rain but plenty of sparks to the state’s parched forests and grasslands.

They are forecasting more dry lightning storms later in the week.

Along the Mississippi – another levee break as the earthen berms become over-saturated and flow away after weeks of pressure. The crest is moving slowly down the river, and the danger isn’t over until the river is down in its natural bed.

People are discovering that a flood system for a 100-year event is no good, as we have had 500-year events every 15 years.

Apparently this coming Friday is booked for another atrocity, so Harry Reid is going to wait until after the Fourth of July recess to give away the Fourth Amendment. I’m sure everyone noticed that Speaker Pelosi waited until Friday to have her vote to abandon the Constitution and reward criminal behavior.

I’ve been poking around and reading procedural rules on this FISA bill.  As near as I can tell because this is a conference report, it can’t be amended.  It is sent to the floor of both Houses for an up or down vote.  It can, apparently be filibustered in the Senate, but it cannot be changed.

Opponents need 41 votes to avoid cloture, and a lot of reading material.  It’s time to see if a leader arises, but I’m not holding my breath.

On Friday the BBC reported that Martha Stewart ‘barred from UK’. It’s not like she threatened to redecorate Parliament.

Then today I read the CNN report: Boy George denied U.S. visa.

The War On Terror™ continues… 😈

… it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law of the land.

Why supposedly intelligent people insist on attempting to mix politiics and religion is beyond me.  It always ends badly for someone.

Evangelist accuses Obama of ‘distorting’ Bible

(CNN) — A top U.S. evangelical leader is accusing Sen. Barack Obama of deliberately distorting the Bible and taking a “fruitcake interpretation” of the U.S. Constitution.

In comments to be aired on his radio show Tuesday, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson criticizes the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for comments he made in a June 2006 speech to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.
…

[Read more →]

… and it doesn’t involve sex or goats.

According to that august national puppy trainer: Fla. congressman defends giving borrowed speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman has apologized for posting a speech on his website without acknowledging that it was largely written by a fellow Republican from Georgia.

But Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., says he did nothing wrong in delivering the heavily borrowed address at a University of West Florida graduation in 2004.

While not lifted word for word, Miller’s address contains nearly identical passages and the same life lessons as a speech Sen. Johnny Isakson wrote for his son’s high school graduation in 1988 and has delivered more than 100 times since.

Miller says he credited Isakson when he delivered the speech, but that attribution was mistakenly left out of a written transcript that was posted on Miller’s website. After a columnist for The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle raised questions, Miller amended the site to show that the ideas came from Isakson.

I’m sure the graduates of the University of West Florida are thrilled to know they were listening to a 16-year-old high school graduation speech written by a Georgia Dad for his son, and read by their Congresscritter. That will make them feel better about their college loans.

Since he only “borrowed” it, I’m sure he will give it back. 😈

Read all about it: Florida to sign massive sugar, Everglades deal

WELLINGTON, Fla. – U.S. Sugar Corp., the nation’s largest producer of cane sugar, would go out of business in a $1.75 billion deal to sell its nearly 300 square miles of land to Florida for Everglades restoration, the company and the state’s governor said Tuesday.

Under the deal, announced at a news conference with Gov. Charlie Crist and company representatives, the state would buy U.S. Sugar’s holdings in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee, the virtual heart of the ecosystem.
…

Crist said the deal is “as monumental as the creation of our nation’s first national park, Yellowstone.”

“This represents, if we’re successful, and I believe we will be, the largest conservation purchase in the history of the state of Florida,” Crist said.

[Read more →]

I’d like to highlight a piece of Barbara Jordan’s 25 July 1974 Statement on the Articles of Impeachment, for Nancy Pelosi:

Common sense would be revolted if we engaged upon this process for petty reasons. Congress has a lot to do: Appropriations, Tax Reform, Health Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, Housing, Environmental Protection, Energy Sufficiency, Mass Transportation. Pettiness cannot be allowed to stand in the face of such overwhelming problems. So today we are not being petty. We are trying to be big, because the task we have before us is a big one.

They made the time, because it was important, not because it was convenient.  Not acting because it isn’t convenient is petty.