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My Book Is Now Available from Publisher Before Stores Get It
"Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union," by David Swanson is due in stores September 1st, but the publisher has it now and you can get it straight from Seven Stories Press.
If you drank the water...
Camp Lejeune Historic Water Update
Dear Registrant:
4 April: International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance
A holiday card for you to share
Click on image to go to the original.
All the Risk, But...
Modern War-Siapam
NO HEALTHCARE,
NO DISABILITY,
NO LIFE INSURANCE,
NO HEAD STONE,
NO MEDALS,
NO TRAINING,
NO PROTECTION,
& NO THANKS
This graphic is copyright free. Click on image to go to the original.
The Seven "Nations" of Political Talk
l
AudienceSize
Anthony Leiserowitz' reseach at Yale
Just a few weeks prior to the 2008 elections, we conducted a nationally representative survey of 2,164 American adults aged 18+. This was a period of heightened political interest and discussion, due to the historic campaigns of then Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Among many other questions, we asked respondents how often they watch or listen to six of the major political commentators in the media today: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity & Alan Colmes, Bill O’Reilly, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Keith Olberman.
What follows is an analysis of the size, political leanings, demographic characteristics, values and attitudes of each “nation” of political talk within the United States. Please note that there is some overlap between these different audiences, with some Americans who tune in to more than one commentator. We have also compared the characteristics of each audience to the much larger proportion of the public (57%) who do not watch or listen to any of these commentators.
Tell them: House Democratic Leadership
Feel free to contact the leadership of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and tell them to support and defend the Constitution. Cover the bases:
● The usurpation of war powers by the Executive Branch and the abdication of war powers by the U.S. Congress
● The erosion of civil rights and constitutionally guaranteed freedoms
● The rule of law and the accountability of government officials
● The misuse of the fictional corporate person to interfere with government for and by the People
NOTE: Some Representatives block the use of webmail by non-constituents. If so, look at the Representatives' home page for alternate means of contacting them such as e-mail addresses, street addresses and telephone numbers. Be sure you address your communication using the Representatives' party titles - Chair, Secretary, Deputy Whip, et cetera.
◆ = Organizations
■ = Leadership positions
Tell them: Senate Democratic Leadership
Feel free to contact the leadership of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate and tell them to support and defend the Constitution. Cover the bases:
● The usurpation of war powers by the Executive Branch and the abdication of war powers by the U.S. Congress
● The erosion of civil rights and constitutionally guaranteed freedoms
● The rule of law and the accountability of government officials
● The misuse of the fictional corporate person to interfere with government for and by the People
NOTE: Some Senators block the use of webmail by non-constituents. If so, look at the Senators' home page for alternate means of contacting them such as e-mail addresses, street addresses and telephone numbers. Be sure you address your communication using the Senators' party titles - Chair, Secretary, Deputy Whip, et cetera.
◆ = Organizations
■ = Leadership positions
Highlights of Nonviolence in History
Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies
Before Christ
c. 2050 BC King Bilalama formulated the Eshnunna law code.
1848-1806 BC Hammurabi ruled Babylon with a law code.
c. 1275 BC Moses led Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
742-697 BC Isaiah and Micah prophesied in Israel and Judah.
c. 700 BC Parshva taught nonviolence in India.
682 BC Athenian kingship was reduced to annual election.
628-551 BC Zarathushtra taught a new religion in Persia.
627-580 BC Jeremiah prophesied in Judah.
594 BC Solon was elected archon and revised laws for Athens.
551-479 BC Confucius taught humanistic ethics.
545 BC Heang Seu organized a peace conference at Song.
531-510 BC Pythagoras taught at Crotona.
528-483 BC Buddha taught in India.
c. 520 BC Lao-zi wrote Dao De Jing in China.
The Outer Space Treaty
Green=signed and ratified
Yellow=signed only
RULE OF LAW: STAR WARS or OUTER SPACE TREATY
The Outer Space Treaty (the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies) opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. The treaty entered into force on the part of the U.S. on 27 January 1967. Ninety-eight States have ratified, and an additional twenty-seven have signed the Outer Space Treaty (as of 1 January 2008). For further information, see the Treaty Status Index.
FYI: We might've had to wait until 4 March
Buh-bye, Bush
The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on this day, 23 January 1933.
Forty-three days more would just have been too much.
"Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin."
IT WAS JUST LIKE IKE
General of the Army
Forty- eight years ago. 48. Just shy of two score and ten. Almost half a century...
“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together. - Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address to the Nation, 17 January 1961
Forty-eight years ago Dwight D. Eisenhower, President, Commander-in-Chief, 5-star or General of the Army, of which there have only been five in the history of the United States, presciently warns the citizenry of the threat of a “military-industrial complex”
Who hasn’t heard that? Yet only eight years earlier Eisenhower had said much the same in his Chance for Peace Speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16,1953. Who has heard of that speech?
You should listen to it.
FYI: The Military-Industrial Complex
Dwight D. Eisenhower
17 January 1961:
Forty-eight years ago Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth President of the United States delivers his farewell address to the nation warning of the threat of the “Military-Industrial Complex”.
FYI: The Fundamental Orders
The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council on January 14, 1638 OS . The orders describe the government set up by the Connecticut River towns, setting its structure and powers. It has the features of a written constitution, and is considered by some as the first written Constitution of modern time, and thus earned Connecticut its nickname of The Constitution State.
You're invited
For more information contact: markruddy55@yahoo.com, (715) 839-7949
FYI: Doug Wilder
13 Januray 1990 - L. Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American politician and was the first African American to be elected as governor of a U.S. state, and the second to serve as governor. The first African American governor in the U.S. state was P. B. S. Pinchback, who was not elected, but became Governor of Louisiana on December 9, 1872 upon the removal of his predecessor from office. Deval Patrick, the Governor of Massachusetts, is the second African American to be elected governor, and became the third African American governor overall. Ascending from the office of Lieutenant Governor, Wilder was elected to succeed Baliles on November 8, 1989, defeating Republican Marshall Coleman by a spread of less than half a percent. Wilder served as Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. His most recent office was Mayor of Richmond, Virginia, which he held from 2005 to 2009.
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Excepted from Wikipedia
FYI: Harrisburg Seven
12 January 1971: The Harrisburg Seven, members of a religious antiwar group led by Philip Berrigan, are indicted for conspiracy. According to a government informer, the group was planning to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.
FYI: Common Sense
Common Sense by Thomas Paine is first published on January 10, 1776.
■ Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.
FYI: Ella T. Grasso
January 8, 1975 – December 31, 1980
Ella T. Grasso becomes the first elected "in her own right" woman to serve as governor of a U.S. state. Previous women governors had been the wife or widow of a male governor. She was also the first woman to be the Governor of Connecticut.
A Former POW's Open Letter to Congress
A Former POW's Open Letter to Congress
Phillip Butler | January 05, 2009
Here is the Oath of Office I took on July 1, 1957:
I, Phillip Neal Butler, having been appointed a Midshipman in the United States Navy, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.
Upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1961, I repeated this oath to be commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. I served 20 years as an active duty commissioned officer. During that time I became a Naval Aviator, flew combat in Vietnam, was downed over North Vietnam on April 20, 1965 and became a prisoner of war. I was repatriated on February 12, 1973, having served 2,855 days and nights as a POW – just short of 8 years. The Vietnamese were not signatory to any international treaties on treatment of prisoners. They pronounced us "criminals" and freely used torture, harassment, malnutrition, isolation, lack of medical care and other degradations during our captivity. I was tortured dozens of times during my captivity. But I often thought of our Constitution and the higher purpose we served – a purpose that helped me resist beyond what I thought I’d ever be capable of. Ironically, we POWs often reminded each other that our country would never stoop to torture and the low level of treatment we were experiencing at the hands of our captors.
FYI: Four Freedoms
Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt, excerpted from the Annual Message to the Congress, January 6, 1941
For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:
Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.
These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.
A proto freeway blogger
One woman artist, one highway, one mountain and one helluva work of art.
Gives you some perspective on just what can be accomplished.
Santayana Watch
Once again it is proved that those that forget history are doomed to repeat it. A recent article in The Hill proclaims "Obama dismisses Bush Pentagon appointees". A closer reading reveals that "Out of roughly 250 political appointees, 90 were dismissed."
Not much of a clean sweep as David Swanson points out in his recent ADS post Obama to Keep on Majority of Bush Appointees at Pentagon. But there is even more to the story.
Linda Tripp, Monica Lewinsky's erstwhile friend and confidant, was a Republican political appointee kept on by the Clinton administration. She also received a $20,000 raise! Linda, with the Democrat's help, was sitting pretty, ready to do her patriotic part in the subsequent impeachment of Thomas Jefferson Clinton.
It seems the only rationale for not firing every single Bush employee is the quaint idea that those who make the mess, should clean it up. That's alright as far as it goes, President-Elect Obama...just watch out they don't make a clean sweep of you.
FYI: In accordance with Article I, Section 9
What the 9th United States Congress managed on slavery; the 110th United States Congress should do on high crimes and misdemeanors: IMPEACHMENT - IT'S MANDATED BY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
Background
The United States Constitution, Article 1 Section 9 protected the slave for twenty years. Only after 1808 could laws be passed to end the slave trade.
FYI: Flint Sit-Down Strike
The Strike Heard Round the World
Background
The UAW had only been formed in 1935 and held its first convention in 1936. Shortly thereafter the union decided that it could not survive by piecemeal organizing campaigns at smaller plants, as it had in the past, but that it could organize the automobile industry only by going after its biggest and most powerful employer, General Motors Corporation, focusing on GM's production complex in Flint, Michigan.
FYI: Flushing Remonstrance
Remonstrance of the Inhabitants of the Town of Flushing to Governor Stuyvesant, December 27, 1657
Right Honorable
You have been pleased to send unto us a certain prohibition or command that we should not receive or entertain any of those people called Quakers because they are supposed to be, by some, seducers of the people. For our part we cannot condemn them in this case, neither can we stretch out our hands against them, for out of Christ God is a consuming fire, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
One a Day, Congress, One a Day
Plainly, submitting one resolution to impeach is not enough. Even, two, three, four or more may not be
enough. It's not the number of articles submitted that matter; it's the number of times impeachment is
attempted. So, submit one a day. Start with the crimes private soldiers were convicted of. Convictions are
the proof crimes were committed. Therefore, ordering soldiers to commit crimes is a crime. Impeach
Bush for them. If you try to impeach Bush every day; people will soon get it.
Here, just fill it out and submit it.
Stooge: Lynndie England
It could happen by Christmas
4 days in December, 10 years ago today
12/15/1998, 11:45 PM: The House Committee on Judiciary reported an original measure, House Report105-830.
12/19/1998 2:14pm:
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
TIME ELAPSED: 3 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes
Rep. Henry J. Hyde (Repbulican-IL, 6D) manages to send articles impeaching President William J. Clinton to the U.S. Senate in only 86 hours and 29 minutes.
86.5 HOURS! And with NO Cosponsors!
What the heck is wrong with Congress? Bush and Cheney have admitted to crimes and can’t get impeached. But Mr. “Youthful Indescretion” sticks Bill Clinton in 86 and a half hours minus one minute.
Here’s how he did it. (Pay attention Mr. Conyers.)
