There is something very, very wrong with a society that thinks it is acceptable for police to violently kick down the door to a private family's home, shoot the family dogs and physically restrain the family while they conduct a search for drug dealer materials or other incriminating evidence, all because a large package of cannabis sativa was discovered in the postal system with their address on it.
The AP just picked up a week-old story in which Prince George's Country police raided the home of a local mayor in a bizarre case of identity theft, and shot his dogs dead:
Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.
We are down to the closing hours to refine the planks of this netroots defined platform; plus two additional days to rate up or down the planks WE have collaboratively authored.
You can still participate and make sure your voice is heard. But to make sure the best and most representative planks appear in our platform we need your help in the next 3 days, because we want to get this into the hands of the DNC and the Obama campaign in time for them to integrate your ideas into their planning.
To learn more about how, when and where you can still participate see the email after the flip from the Netroots Platform Committee:
It takes a lot for Bush's Justice Department to investigate one of its own. But that's exactly what's happening in Washington, as the politicization of the Civil Rights Division is coming to a head, with Bradley J. Schlozman, perhaps the worst of the worst, right at the front as the target.
I did not know until I chanced a look at today's events in history that today's honored event happened on Aug. 6.
But I knew it had happened in the 1960s, and I, as you, have long thought that a farce of liberty.
If you pay taxes and are not in jail, you should be allowed to vote.
Apparently that was a controversial stance in 1965. Apparently a lot of people thought you should be smart by so much, rich by so much, whatever.
And while all tax payers today cannot vote (the 15-year-old whose part-time wages are taxed gets no vote in how those tax dollars are spent), many more could vote on August 6, 1965, than could vote on August 5, 1965.
Some political analysts and Republican strategists have questioned thenegativity of the McCain campaign at such an early stage of the general election, as if the campaign has a positive platform to run on. The tactics employed by Steve Schmidt and Karl Rove's other disciples come as no shock to anyone who payed attention in 2000 and 2004. The incredible nonsense beginning to emanate from John McCain's campaign constitutes the only possible way the far right can get their ancient, pasty excuse for a candidate elected. Meanwhile, Obama's campaign has dismissed the advertising with logic and dignity, an approach which has demonstrably failed against Rove's dirty politics in the past.
You can find the current top planks below. These were developed by the Netroots community - democratically, collaboratively, transparently, and entirely online.
Okay, I heard his whatever-he-is Rick Davis on the Today Show claim that McCain has ALWAYS fought for the equal rights of everyone. Later that day, in a press avail, McCain repeated that lie. He claims that he has always fought for the equal rights of others, and EVEN claimed that he fought for the recognition of Dr. King's holiday in AZ. He claims he's fought for equal opportunity for education, that's a lie. He claims he's PROUD of his rather dismal record on civil rights . . . well that's probably true. I'm sick of him getting away with his lies, so in this diary, I try to refute some of them (there are so many I may have missed one or two) using his actual (rather dismal) record.
Boy, I sure do write a lot about race. I like recognizing people who've worked to improve race relations in this country, and my soul (inasmuch as an atheist has one) feels slightly cleansed calling attention to someone for whom racism is a means, not mean.
And I'm fiercely proud of the stories I've told that have exposed you to the people and events you missed out on in school because The Era of Good Feeling is safer, or whatever. I will never stop looking for stories to tell (though I may slow down on occasion as Real Life intervenes), and I will be very sad if those stories ever dry up.
But however much I can find the information and give it new life, I wasn't there. I didn't put it all on the line.
The Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian did.
I tell you about what Medgar Evers did, what Myles Horton did, what Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe and the Freedom Riders did in part because of this man.
Where he walked the walk, I talk the talk.
And today I will talk the talk about Rev. Vivian, who was born on July 28, 1924.
I closed out four years in office as a southern Governer throughout this period without one person being killed in demonstrations and marches.
These are the words of man whose guiding principle as a public servant has been the Latin of my title: the safety of the people is the supreme law. On January 20, 1959, at age 37, he became governor of South Carolina, having already served in the South Carolina legislature beginning in 1948. He failed in his first try for the U. S. Senate, was out of elected office from January 1963 until winning a special election to the United States Senate in November of 1966, and he served until January of 2005. His 38 years is the 7th longest in Senate history. And now he has written an important book, entitled Making Government Work. His name is Ernest "Fritz" Hollings and I am delight to be able to write about him and about this book.
While reading the news and going through emails this morning I came upon an editorial called "Six little words that could solve America's wage crisis." The article appeared in a Washington state online paper called The Herald Net. Before I read the six words in question I sipped on my coffee and said to myself: join a union - that's only three words. This early in the morning I am hardly on my game, alas, I was very close.
Below is a simple diary about the article that I read, cross posted from Union Review with the hope to get others thinking about this with me.
On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. "No, really, it's just S" Truman issued Executive Order 9981.
Unlike FDR's Executive Order 9066, which established internment camps in the U.S., largely for the Japanese, EO 9981 did not enshrine bigotry. Rather, it sought to eliminate it.
This was 83 years after the Civil War, three years after black soldiers had helped liberate France and put Hitler in his place (a hole in the ground), one year after Jackie Robinson had become the face of black baseball players — and 82 years after the Army established the first all-black military regiments, which we know today as the Buffalo Soldiers.
Those Buffalo Soldier regiments are today desegregated, in part because EO 9981 declared "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin."
It is a great thing that we are finally (slowly, in a few areas of the country) starting to recognize that all citizens should have the right to marry if they choose to do so, but we should not think that just granting these rights is the end of the issue. One of the possible outcomes of any marriage is a divorce. Unfortunately, gay citizens can go to CA or MA to get married, there is a real problem when they try to get divorced. The LA Times has an interesting article about divorce for gay citizens. Here is the link.
In a diary last Friday by thereisnospoon he made the case that affirmative action has been used by the right since the 1960's to win national elections. The author deftly pointed out that the right has used bigotry , especially in the South, to get people to essentially vote against their interests for decades.
Look, okay, I am fully up front about the fact that I am wholly biased when it comes to freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy (PA-8). I'm proud to call him a friend, but if possible, even prouder today.
For the first time since the policy was implemented in 1993, the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee held a hearing today to review the disgraceful "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy which prevents GLBT Americans from serving openly in our armed forces. One of the witnesses was Elaine Donnelly, President of the "Center for Military Readiness," who Pam Spaulding has properly identified as someone who "has never served in the military, and admits she has no qualifications or expertise on sexuality."
And after her inane testimony, Congress' only Iraq veteran was ready:
Nearly 800 specialists with critical skills have been fired from the military under DADT, including several linguists who speak Arabic.
U.S. taxpayers have paid $250 million to investigate and root out patriotic servicemen and women under DADT and as much as $1.2 billion in lost recruiting and training costs.
More than two-thirds of civilians support allowing gays to serve openly in the military. And despite the fear-mongering about unit morale, nearly 3 in 4 troops say they are personally comfortable serving side-by-side with gays and lesbians.
More on today's hearing here. DADT must end. Period. Full stop.
Okay, I heard his whatever-he-is Rick Davis on the Today Show claim that McCain has ALWAYS fought for the equal rights of everyone. Later that day, in a press avail, McCain repeated that lie. He claims that he has always fought for the equal rights of others, and EVEN claimed that he fought for the recognition of Dr. King's holiday in AZ. He claims he's fought for equal opportunity for education, that's a lie. He claims he's PROUD of his rather dismal record on civil rights . . . well that's probably true. I'm sick of him getting away with his lies, so in this diary, I try to refute some of them (there are so many I may have missed one or two) using his actual (rather dismal) record.
