the end of the southern strategy

That's it, over, done. Nigger-baiting in national elections has played out. For the entirety of my life until now, this has been the GOP's plank strategy. Thanks to a shift in demographics that's ongoing and will continue well into the future, America's going to be a predominantly brown nation, thanks mostly to Hispanic immigrants. Think about it: this has been going on since 1968. What Boogeyman is the Republican Party going to find next? Oh sure, terrorists, but that's not going to fit the bill.

No, I think they're basically screwed, but then, so are the rest of us thanks to them and racist American evangelicals (rural hicks, white Southerners generally). We're still heading on the wrong course in our obsession with military adventurism. We still have Citizens United. Ah, and don't think President Obama is FDR--he's not. What he's going to do is tow their line about the national debt, misrepresenting it, making the same claims that fly in the face of accepted economics theory, and we'll continue to have the same problems, albeit with a privatized or non-existent social safety net, and it will have been done by Democratic hands, not primarily Republican ones.

So, great, enjoy the parties for now, but the fact is that President Obama is going to continue to roll back our civil liberties with NDAA, a war on lawful government whistleblowers, and he's going to continue to commit heinous war crimes in the Middle East, North Africa, Africa generally, Asia, and so on, little will change. The missing-ingredient once more is the public holding him accountable, but with partisan tribalism what it is now, forget it. The American public will continue to be on the one hand an apathetic demographic blob, and a bloodthirsty rabble, the dream of authoritarians everywhere.

But at least the Southern strategy is over, done, kaput, and I can watch the assholes that ruined my nation writhe for four more years. None of this is reassuring. Expect the president to cut back on social services and to gut solid programs like Social Security. It's coming, and you're going to own it, because you're just as irrational as the Republicans, dear lockstep Democrats, you're exactly the same kind of morons.

Is Facebook censoring Cindy Sheehan and putting out misinformation over her upcoming CIA protest at Langley?

WWW--Either Facebook is messing-up big time (usually the case), or they're lying and telling people on their service (used on communications airspace owned by the public) that the upcoming protest by Cindy Sheehan and other activists at CIA HQ in Langley, Virginia is canceled. According to a journalist I just communicated with, it is not.

Sheehan and her people had a Facebook page up announcing the visit with a link to Googlemaps for directions (possibly from former VP Dick Cheney's property). Journalists who are attending have told me that they expect arrests even though the event itself is completely legal. We'll see, but I think the time to call the lawyers is at hand.

If Facebook has done what I think they've done, it's going to be a PR problem for them to put it mildly.

Facebook's "Event Cancelled" notice as of this evening: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195727044034

The event route from Cheney's home to the CIA: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115218600321747535998.00047c286d22dfd43cfae&ll=38.94757

September 11th, 2001

What's left of the United States of America--Regardless of what you think about the hows and the whys of 9/11, one thing is certain: the GOP, the Bush administration, and the majority of the current Congress opportunistically used these attacks to rollback all of our rights.

But they had help--the cowardly and reactionary American public, afraid for their consumer goods and their petty privileges being taken-away. It's bizarre how, through hysteria and unwarranted fear, people bring about those worst fears, even going well beyond them. There are no words.

With Congress abrogating their own constitutional responsibilities under the rein of what is clearly the most criminal administration in our history, this just isn't America anymore. You see, without our basic constitutional rights, we're no longer Americans at all. We're something else, and it isn't good.

If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's not to panic so pathetically as the inhabitants of this era have done.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I received a call from a friend living in Chicago. His own sister worked at Merrill-Lynch at that time, practically next to the World Trade Center. He told me to turn on my television--an airliner had crashed into one of the WTC towers and another one was headed towards the other one. I honestly thought he was joking at that time, until the image came up exactly at the moment of the second-impact.

To say it was shocking would be an understatement, I couldn't believe it, even after watching it with my own eyes. I wondered if anyone would get out alive...and then the hysteria began, and it was everywhere, ubiquitous. At that point, I did what every American who didn't should have done at that time: I turned-off my television-set and didn't watch any coverage of the event and its aftermath for over six months.

After September 11th, 2001, I have generally continued this practice with very little variation. Television is perhaps the worst single way to receive news and information, and it is owned by corporations. This is all anyone should need to know about why television news coverage cannot be trusted.

I didn't need television to find-out that my friend's sister was alright. She'd missed her ferry across the river to Manhattan that day--an hour late for work. From her vantage-point, she could see directly across where the World Trade Center was as it was being hit, and she could see human beings falling to their deaths, and she could hear their screams.

Based on how reactionary and fearful Americans are, we knew then that things would never be the same and that the Republicans would seize-on this and run with it for as long as they could.

Whomever plotted the attacks knew this, and they have won, they have beaten us with our own fears and excesses. The results couldn't have been more predictable, and they're still playing-out. There is no war on terror, there is only America warring with itself. Eventually, everything unique about this nation will be gone unless we stop being so timid, submissive, and afraid. The time is now to stand and be counted among the brave, those willing to push-back at what is surely an emergent police state, a situation that we have created in our own fear and complacency.

For those of you who do not vote: you are all going to be held-responsible for your inaction no matter what, and there will be no escape when tyranny and economic chaos comes knocking at your door. If you want a better world, you must vote, and vote intelligently. This means understanding that the two party system has failed us. The majority of Americans understand this, and the time has come to act on this by voting for other parties.

No, they aren't going to win initially, but what's winning after eight years of George W. Bush? Winning means putting pressure on the major party candidates to meet our needs as a society, not the selfish wants of the few. That road leads to catastrophe and social chaos. Using your head means understanding that winning takes time, and that you don't win every battle. Life is not a football game and so-called lost-causes aren't just for gentlemen (and ladies) anymore. They're the only battles worth fighting.

Songs from the Site Meter: A Cluster of Visits Over the Deskin-Palfrey E-mails and Commentary Over Their Meaning

Site Meter--This is an interesting cluster from a few different geographical locations, mainly on L.A. attorney Sam Deskin, as well as related issues surrounding the DC Madam saga. The San Rafael address is interesting--is it a member of the Palfrey family? Could be.

It could be "Bobbie" Palfrey, Palfrey's younger sister. The location fits, but then, it could be a positive-hit for another Orrick office (they were founded in San Francisco with a major office there), or associate who lives in nearby San Rafael.

Question: why did the government erroneously claim that the late Jeane Palfrey had assets totaling over $2 million. It doesn't fit, the math doesn't work. Palfrey told this writer she was extremely "well-traveled," which her voluminous phone records attest to. There are many calls to various embassies of various nations.

Was she creating offshore accounts? It's a pregnant contention that deserves greater attention. With offices in over 18 major nations, I'm sure that Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe are up for the job of recovering what could be several million unreported dollars that federal investigators couldn't peg on Palfrey. Who's going to get it? Is their relationship with the federal government a conflict-of-interest? Is that a foregone conclusion? What's going on here?

As it stands, the federal government is claiming that the "investigation is ongoing." Offshore accounts could be the reason why, and who knows what Preston Burton is up to, apparently expediting the Estate of Deborah Jeane Palfrey for her surviving family members. Curiouser and curiouser (softly, softly, catchee monkey).

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Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich's speech to the Democratic National Convention, and the American public

Denver, Colorado--I still cannot believe the DNC allowed him to make this speech, as they haven't exactly been supportive of him. Now that the Populist message is--well--"popular" again, they had little choice. But where was Russell Feingold or Patrick Leahy?

Of course, we know the condition was that he didn't spell-out that many Democrats aided-and-abetted the Bush administration and still are, but, what the hell? It's good to see and hear the truth for a change, and he sounds an awful lot like Ralph Nader.

Now, if only candidate Obama would start walking and talking like Mr. Kucinich, a man I wish was my representative. Joe Donnelly has decided to be on the wrong side of history, to his eternal shame and ignominy. He'll be remembered alright, just not fondly by anyone with a clue (or food, water, and batteries for flashlights in the ruins of civilization). Thanks Joe, you remind me that there are plenty of incumbents in the Democratic Party who have to go, and you're one of them.

The Speech:

It’s Election Day 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call. Wake up, America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added 4 trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq’s oil.

Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia, while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.

If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children’s inheritance and hollow out our economy.

We can’t afford another Republican administration. Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing. Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.

Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.

This administration can tap our phones. They can’t tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can’t open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.

Wake up, America! This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.

Up with health care for all! Up with education for all! Up with home ownership! Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace! Up with prosperity! Up with the Democratic Party! Up with Obama-Biden!

Wake up, America! Wake up, America! Wake up, America!

Obama and FISA: Fallout

The Campaign Trail of Tears--As predicted by many, Sen. Barack Obama voted "yea"--in-favor--of passage of the FISA bill (H.R. 6304) that grants retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies who aid and abet renegade administrations and a free pass to any president who authorizes surveillance of any American citizen without a warrant. Surprisingly, Sen. Hillary Clinton voted against the bill, but she no longer has the Democratic nomination for president in her sights, while Obama has it in-hand...for now.

Had Sen. Clinton won the nomination, she would have assuredly voted for passage of this unconstitutional legislation. How much will they use it and abuse it? That's assuming these programs are anything new. They are not. Passage of a bill without the Dodd, Feingold, and Specter amendments can be expected to open a Pandora's box.

The Bush administration was more-than-willing to travel down the rabbit hole, just as the Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and even the Reagan administrations did when they spied illegally on American citizens.

What we know about the passage of the bill today is that during the yearlong proceedings those who voted in-favor were receiving heavy donations from the very telecommunications companies who helped the president break the law.

Notably, John McCain did not vote for the bill, and his comments yesterday criticizing the rival candidate raises the question of whether Obama has walked right into another "Roveian" trap.

We all knew that the wiretap lawsuits were going to go nowhere, and that this legislation was never necessary. But what happens if there is another successful attack on the continental United States anyway? Ted Kennedy did not vote on the legislation either, which is not to his credit, but also predictable. John Kerry voted against the bill. Unbelievably, Arlen Specter voted "yea."

Here's a rundown, mark it well:

Akaka (D-HI), Nay Alexander (R-TN), Yea Allard (R-CO), Yea Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Baucus (D-MT), Yea Bayh (D-IN), Yea Bennett (R-UT), Yea Biden (D-DE), Nay Bingaman (D-NM), Nay Bond (R-MO), Yea Boxer (D-CA), Nay Brown (D-OH), Nay Brownback (R-KS), Yea Bunning (R-KY), Yea Burr (R-NC), Yea Byrd (D-WV), Nay Cantwell (D-WA), Nay Cardin (D-MD), Nay Carper (D-DE), Yea Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Yea Clinton (D-NY), Nay Coburn (R-OK), Yea Cochran (R-MS), Yea Coleman (R-MN), Yea Collins (R-ME), Yea Conrad (D-ND), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Craig (R-ID), Yea Crapo (R-ID), Yea DeMint (R-SC), Yea Dodd (D-CT), Nay Dole (R-NC), Yea

Domenici (R-NM), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Nay Durbin (D-IL), Nay Ensign (R-NV), Yea Enzi (R-WY), Yea Feingold (D-WI), Nay Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Graham (R-SC), Yea Grassley (R-IA), Yea Gregg (R-NH), Yea Hagel (R-NE), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Yea Hutchison (R-TX), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Nay Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Yea Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay Leahy (D-VT), Nay Levin (D-MI), Nay Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea Martinez (R-FL), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting McCaskill (D-MO), Yea McConnell (R-KY), Yea

Menendez (D-NJ), Nay Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Murray (D-WA), Nay Nelson (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea Reed (D-RI), Nay Reid (D-NV), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Salazar (D-CO), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Nay Schumer (D-NY), Nay Sessions (R-AL), Not Voting Shelby (R-AL), Yea Smith (R-OR), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Nay Stevens (R-AK), Yea Sununu (R-NH), Yea Tester (D-MT), Nay Thune (R-SD), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea Warner (R-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Nay

http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00168

I want a Black president, just not this guy. It's time for a choice, a real one, and that choice is Ralph Nader. There are no long-shots in this political climate, no total wins for the public. What we must do is pressure the candidates. If they don't respond, we must take the responsible route and begin the work of creating third parties to apply pressure on our own terms.

You have to hand it to John McCain on this one, though it's even money that he supports H.R. 6304 wholeheartedly. Sen. Vitter voted "yea," but being the subject of wiretaps that were carefully suppressed for partisan reasons, he's just a tad biased. Of course the president "relishes" signing the legislation--he's not going to jail now. Wouldn't you? Barack Obama: he's probably already lost the race for the White House.

Ralph Nader had this--and much more--to say yesterday on the passage of H.R. 6304:

July 9, 2008 www.votenader.org www.officialnaderstore.com

Listen to Ralph Nader's audio message on the Senate vote on FISA - here. Good morning. This is Ralph Nader. Today is Wednesday July 9, 2008. And I'm listening now to the debate on the Senate floor over legislation that will give President Bush new warrantless eavesdropping powers. The bill will also grant immunity to telecom companies for cooperating with Mr. Bush in his illegal warrantless wiretapping on Americans - on any one of you. We were taught as young children that in our democracy, under our system of justice, nobody is above the law - nobody. But this bill puts the President and the telecom companies above the law. It also conveniently assures a coverup of Mr. Bush's past crimes in this area - of wiretapping and surveillance. On the Senate floor, Senator Feingold has just warned his colleagues that the Senate "will regret that we passed this legislation." As my home state Senator, Christopher Dodd, said: "If we pass this legislation, the Senate will ratify a domestic spying regime that has already concentrated far too much unaccountable power in the President's hands and will place the telecommunications companies above the law." What does it say that Senators Dodd, Feingold, Harry Reid, and Patrick Leahy have led the valiant fight against this bill, but Senator Obama has said he will vote for it? Again, this bill gives the President vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers and allows the government - for the first time ever - to tap into America's telecommunications networks with no judicial warrant requirement. President Bush and the Democrats who support him argue that the telecommunications companies were only doing what they were told by the President and were acting as "patriotic corporate citizens." This is pure hogwash. First of all, corporations aren't citizens. Second, the President can't order anyone - citizens or corporations - to break the law. This legislation, which the Senate is debating right now, sets up a double standard of justice. Break the law as a citizen, go to jail. Break the law as a corporation, go to Washington and get immunity. Remember, there were telecom companies, such as Qwest, that refused to follow President Bush's illegal wiretap orders and chose instead to obey the laws of the land. The Senate is now posed to bury the rule of law. What to do? Join Nader/Gonzalez - the candidacy that will shift the power from the corporations back into the hands of the people. We strongly oppose the wiretap surveillance legislation that Obama and McCain support. We stand strongly with the American people and for the Constitution. The Nader/Gonzalez campaign is now at six percent in the most recent CNN poll. We're in the middle of a fundraising drive right now to put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot in 45 states by September 20. Help us get there now. Go to votenader.org. Donate to your heart's content. For the Constitution. For liberty. For freedom. For justice. For shifting the power from the corporations, back into the hands of the American people. "We the people" are the first words of the Constitution - we should always remember. Thank you. PS: We invite your comments to the blog. Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250. Forward to a friend | Comment on our blog

The Ghost of Reagan and Governments Past: The House Moves to Secret Session to Discuss FISA Revisions and the Issue of Retroactive Immunity

Washington D.C.--Remember that these sessions were suggested by the Republicans, and not the Democratic leadership of the House. It only takes one member of Congress to call a closed-door session, however, so a proxy for the rest of the GOP helps to avoid many embarrassments. But the Democrats have agreed to do so, with reservations on the degree of secrecy from such lights as Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.).

Some of this begins with Iran-Contra, the last time that the House was forced to convene a closed-door session to debate the criminal acts of another Republican presidential administration in another time. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was taking the world by storm, and the Cold War was being preheated in the Reaganite microwave to keep war-profiteering bellies full. The more things change, the more they stay the same, especially when Congress refuses to hold criminal administrations accountable. Precedents get set, and Americans cannot be blamed for assuming it was all by-design, because it was.

At this very moment, the House is meeting in a closed-door session to discuss the issues surrounding the conflicting versions of the Protect America Act amendment to FISA and the issue or retroactive immunity for the lawless telecommunications companies who aided in widespread and illegal wiretapping. Tonight, they're all looking at declassified records regarding the warrantless NSA surveillance program initiated by the Bush administration in 2002. But what's it all really about? One could easily assume that members of the House don't want us all to know.

After the events of September 11th, 2001, the White House was handed extraordinary powers by Congress and a panic-stricken American public, yet the surveillance program itself was kept a secret until its disclosure by the New York Times in December of 2005. The Times had been sitting on it for over one year, at-the-behest of the Bush administration which had urged the publication to bury the story, or "blood would be on their hands." Again-and-again, the White House and the GOP have resorted to the use of fear in their political strategy, even outside of public scrutiny--which is what we're seeing tonight.

President Bush vowed to veto the House Democrats' version of the terrorist surveillance bill, saying it would undermine the nation's security. House leaders said they would vote on the bill Friday, just before taking a two-week recess. The bill would then have to be approved by the Senate. Bush opposes it in part because it doesn't provide full, retroactive legal protection to telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ("House to Close Its Door for Spying Bill," AP, 03.13.2008)

Go ahead and veto it, we all know that the House Democrats scored incredible political capital by refusing to reconcile their version of FISA amendments with the Senate's version (PAA). And that's correct kids, the last time a closed-door session happened was in 1983 when the Reagan administration was caught violating the Boland amendment, passed by Congress on December 8, 1982, which made it illegal for the White House to provide covert and overt military aid and training to the counterrevolutionary "Contras" in Nicaragua. The public and the legislative branch became aware of Reagan's backing of the illegal war by the press of that time when it was found that the CIA had mined Nicaraguan harbors.

The legislative branch cut all funds and barred any further funding by the executive branch to the extralegal contras--hence the need to illegally sell military-parts and arms to Iran, and the need for international money-laundering (players of the Randy Cunningham scandal such as Mitchell Wade--and possibly even Kyle D. Foggo--were involved in Iran-Contra. It's possible that another one was one Thomas Kontogiannis, alleged to be a CIA money-launderer). There was possibly even involvement in drug-trafficking (cocaine). Congress at that time had already been aware of this activity in 1982, hence the need for passage of the Boland amendment back in the "good-old-days" when there were still a few checks and balances being practiced...well, at least the occasional noble act by the Democrats. It wasn't enough, and the Reagan administration just kept breaking-the-law. None of this escaped Congress at the time.

In short, the Boland amendment made any secret or overt aggression supported by the Reagan administration in Nicaragua against the populist Sandanistas illegal under American law, a crime. But Congress did as much as it could to avoid doing much except covering its ass. By 1988 it was essentially over, and the Congress of that time gave-in by not impeaching Ronald Reagan. While the independent counsel's investigations went into the 1990s, pardons by the administration of outgoing President George Herbert Walker Bush gutted an already feeble inquiry. Most of the expediters of this not-so-secret war were given a light slap on the wrist, as was presidents Reagan and Bush I. Tonight's closed-door session is simply another case of keeping the public outside of policymaking, and in-the-dark about our legal rights and our history. We have a right to know.

Congress knew about similar activities like Iran-Contra as early as 1982, but hid it from the public and dragged-their-feet with the investigations. As with the excesses of Watergate and Reagan, they're once again trying to save the storied office of president, rather than truly reforming it. It's either a mistake in their thinking, or many of them are complicit and share the same policy-goals of the Bush administration--inaction makes this so by-default. It makes them all complicit unless they stood-up like Dennis Kucinich has, like Patrick Leahy has, and as Russ Feingold has. The rest are de facto criminals, and in many cases de jure.

The Republicans led the charge on this count with Iran-Contra, but they couldn't have done it without the Democrats with their fundamental inaction and apathy. When it came time to hit the president with the law, the majority of incumbents at that time stood-down and let them get-away with violating the law and the Constitution. A dangerous precedent was allowed to stand, just as it will for so many crimes of the Bush administration in our current era. It took exactly four-years from the passage of the Boland amendment for the appointment of Lawrence E. Walsh as the independent counsel by then-Attorney General Edwin Meese III, in an eerie echo of the irregularities in the Bush Justice Department. What's old is new again.

Without the guarantees of the Constitution of the United States, Americans are no-longer Americans anymore. Again-and-again, the GOP endangered the security and liberties of the American public in order to grab as much power in-the-wake of 9/11 as they humanly could. In so many instances, they have cried "partisan politics" when they are in-fact the worst offenders in this area of political misbehavior. But a quick peek at the hows-and-whys of closed-door sessions is in order:

“Secret” or “closed door” sessions of the House of Representatives and Senate are
held periodically to discuss business, including impeachment deliberations, deemed to
require confidentiality and secrecy. Authority for the two chambers to hold these
sessions is implied by Article I, Section 5, of the Constitution.

Both the House and the Senate have supplemented this clause through rules and precedents. Although secret sessions were common in Congress’s early years, they were less frequent through the 20th century. National security is the principal reason for such sessions in recent years. Members and staff who attend these meetings are prohibited from divulging information. Violations are punishable by each chamber’s disciplinary rules. Members may be expelled and staff dismissed for violations of the rules of secrecy. Transcripts from secret sessions are not published unless the relevant chamber votes to release them during the session or at a later time. The portions released then may be printed in the Congressional Record. ("CRS Report for Congress, Secret Sessions of Congress: A Brief Historical Overview [.pdf], 11.03.2005)

One could argue that current Republican incumbents (for now) are playing with all of our rights in-order to minimize the damage of a rogue and criminal presidential administration to their party--this assertion is patently wrong if they are doing so. Congressional Republicans have stood nearly to-the-man (GOP women are men too, a SCUM auxiliary) behind the Bush administration on every point, every questionable move, and every unconstitutional measure and bill.

There has been very little deviation from this behavior--having its own echoes on the Democratic side of the aisle--even with a minority of them getting cold-feet after the 2006 midterm washout. With the Democratic gains in credibility from not allowing a rush in the reconciliation of the FISA amendments, it's just possible that they're beginning to understand what it takes to have the public behind them: integrity, and more than just lip-service when it comes to upholding the Constitution.

The 2005 CRS Report on Closed-Door Sessions:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RS20145.pdf

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) on Iran-Contra:
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/execsum.htm

"House to Close Its Doors for Spying Bill," AP, 03.13.2008:

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20080313/47d8b4d0_3ca6_15526200803131737478508

S.185: RESTORE HABEAS CORPUS ACT

www.democrats.com--The folks at democrats.com are running a petition urging all members of Congress to pass this bill, restoring habeas corpus not just for those detained by the United States, but for every American citizen. The bill's sponsor is Arlen Specter, and he deserves his due on this one. At least he's willing to fix what he originally neglected.

He wisely sponsored it with Sen. Patrick Leahy and 18 other Democratic Senators on December 5th, 2006 as S.4081 during the ill-fated 109th Congress, and it has continued with its resubmission as S.185 by Specter on January 4th of this year. Former-Sen. John Edwards wasn't one of them for the original bill and Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders is missing from the vote in the current version. The question is: why?

Beyond Specter, there are no current GOP cosponsors. Nearly every Democratic candidate for president currently in the Senate are sponsoring it, but a good number of Democratic Senators are AWOL. What's so controversial about an 800-year-old tradition? It's curious, but they might have felt that the bill's language wasn't assertive enough.

Otherwise, this is bipartisanship with substance. This blog urges everyone to consider signing the petition, Congress has been dawdling in their pledge to restore this fundamental right in Anglo-American law. It has been the basis of the liberties we've enjoyed for nearly 800 years. It should never have been suspended, but was done in an atmosphere of haste and political panic by opportunists in the GOP and the Bush administration.

This is all to eliminate "the Military Commissions Act," hastily passed by the dying 109th Congress on September 28th (in the House) and 29th (in the Senate) of 2006, in gross-defiance of the will of the American public--it surely figures-into the end of the Republican majority less-than two months later, just another nail. Voters should recognize that current GOP incumbents are still holding their un-American viewpoint on habeas corpus, and vote accordingly in 2008. John McCain and Joe Lieberman voted to suspend habeas corpus, and a surprising number of Democrats...and one Sen. Arlen Specter.

The petition:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/113

The Senate bill (S.185, of the 110th Congress): http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-185

Amnesty International on the Military Commissions Act: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR511542006

The Military Commissions Act of 2006: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:s3930enr.txt.pdf

How they voted on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the Senate: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00259

Boogie Nights: The Midnight Blue Collection Vols. 1-5 review

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