More like him, hopefully

Here's a Republican appointed judge,Judge John Coughenour, who says exactly what some of us have thought since 9/11 and the stupefying right wing crazy attack on the Constitution that followed. Bad enough New York gets attacked, but worse when the Constitution goes up in smoke because of it.

The judge's remarks were apparently made during his sentencing of would be bomber Ahmed Ressam. Today these remarks are inspiring. Amazing, since we used to take what he is saying for granted, as a birthright, as a part of the definition of who we are as a people. No more.

Hopefully there are more out there (somewhere) like Judge John Coughenour.

Secondly, though, I would like to convey the message that our system works. We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, or deny him the right to counsel, or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution.

The above quote quoted from Hunter at Kos. There's more here and it is all good.

Visit Ohio in Harper's

Mark Crispin Miller has an article in the current Harper’s about how the 2004 presidential election was stolen in Ohio. There’s an introduction on Harper’s web site, here and a more detailed summary here.

People seem to be so sick of this administration’s ability to get away with outright theft and corruption that they just don’t want to look at it. Corruption, lies and criminal acts by the Bushistas and their supporting media agents is part of the landscape and we should all just get over it, stuff our embarrassment and depression and go quietly about our business like good Germans in the 30's.

I don’t think so. First, check out the links above and then go buy Harper’s and pass it around. Then resolve to challenge them every way you can, even in casual conversations with those that support these crazy pricks.

Resistance begins in your own livingroom and in the corner saloon.

Thanks to the Mahablog and The Sideshow

One more time

Everyone who pays even a half assed attention to political news and has even an occasional ability to think objectively should know by now that the 2000 and 2004 elections were rigged.

That means efforts to win votes are futile if votes are not cast and counted fairly.

One way to fight back against this coup is for candidates to refuse to concede and to exhaust every challenge in every lost election.

In case you need a refresher on what happened in Ohio in 2004, read the paragraphs below and go to Taibi's article and read the rest.

Here's a link to the New York Press article "HIGHLY IRREGULAR The Ohio election story is going to come back," by Matt Taibi.

Here's the thing about Ohio. Until you really look at it, you won't understand its significance, which is this: the techniques used in this particular theft have the capacity to alter elections not by dozens or hundreds or even thousands of votes, but by tens of thousands.

And if we ignore this now, we're putting proven methods for easily ripping off major elections in the hands of the same party that had no qualms whatsoever about lying its way into a war in Iraq. In the hands of a merely corrupt political party, a bad election or two would be no big deal. But these clowns we have in power now imagine themselves to be revolutionaries, and their psychology is a lot like that of the leadership of Enron, pre-meltdown—with each passing day that they get away with it, they become more convinced by a delusion of righteousness.

via the Mahablog

Here we go again

The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for beginning a withdrawal from Iraq, even as it is weighing the risk of moving so quickly that Iraqi security forces collapse without U.S. support.

From The Washington Post

Have we forgotten Vietnam? Remember the stampede when we began to withdraw? People on the embassy rooftop grabbing hold of helicopter struts?

Seems pretty likely we are in for it all over again. We begin to leave and the rate of descent into complete chaos accelerates until it is stabilized by Iran or an Iran friendly, fundamentalist strongman. Is that what we are fighting for? Does that make their=our oil any safer?

Go see Billmon again. He has another great post.

Floridian

Sooner or later Democrats are going to get it through their heads that working to win elections is a pointless effort if the votes are not fairly cast and honestly counted. Until they do we will continue to spin our wheels, burn rubber and go nowhere while Republicans manufacture just enough votes to stay in power.

Here’s the inimitable Billmon on the Schmidt/Hackett "election."